Full Circle
by CaraB
Summary: The story of a visitor to Stars Hollow, not much is known about her but she will eventually bring some things full circle in a good way. Final chapter is now up! Grace and Jake get married and Lorelai and Luke get a very special suprise!
1. Luke's

Full Circle

Disclaimer: I don't own the Gilmore Girls, I only wish I did.

Summary: This is the story of a visitor to Stars Hollow, most of it will be told in her point of view, not much is revealed about her in the beginning, but she will help bring things around full circle (what goes around comes around, in a good way this time). It's set in the middle of season 6 kinda, the fight between Lorelai and Rory did happen, but there is no April or Anna, and there will be no big Luke/Lorelai fight (no finale).

I got out of the bus and looked around, the town was a lot different than what I was used to, a lot smaller to be exact. Although I had only traveled for about 30 minutes, it seemed I was worlds away.

I looked around trying to decide what to do first, I needed to find a place to stay, but I was also starving. I noticed a small diner that wasn't and decided to start there. I picked up my stuff, walked over to the diner and was confused, one sign said, "Luke's" and the other said, "William's Hardware," I peeked and noticed the table and chairs, "Definitely not a hardware store," I thought to myself.

I walked in the door and a bell rang, I glanced around the room and noticed there were only two people in the entire diner, a man with a blue backwards ball cap and flannel shirt stood behind the counter, a woman with brown hair wearing jeans and a t-shirt sat at the counter talking to the man.

They didn't notice me at first so I just stood them and watched, it was obvious that they were much more than friends, suddenly the man stopped and looked at me. "Oh sorry, didn't notice you there, you can sit anywhere," the woman turned and looked at me, she had some of the bluest eyes I had ever seen, "Ooh! Come sit at the counter, I was just trying to convince Luke here to play some bagel hockey with me, but he won't," she said with a pout.

I walked over to the counter and the man, Luke, looked at me, "Don't mind her, what can I get for you?" I thought for a minute, "Well gosh, at this point anything sounds good, how about a burger and fries?"

Luke wrote down the order, "Can I get you a coffee or something to drink?" I scrunched up my nose, as I often do when I don't like something, "No thanks, I'm not a big fan of coffee."

The woman gasped and turned, "You don't like coffee!" I shook my head no, "So you never drink it!" I shook my head no again, "How on earth do you survive?"

I sat there trying to think of what to say, "I, um…" Luke spoke up, "Again, don't mind her, she's addicted, some might even say she has a problem." She gasped in what I assumed was mock hurt and turned to pout,

"I'll just have a cup of tea," I told him, he got my tea and headed back to the kitchen.

As soon as he left the room the woman ran behind the counter and grabbed a bagel. "Ok, quick, before he gets back let me explain the rules of bagel hock-"

"Lorelai! I thought I told you no bagel hockey," Luke appeared back from the kitchen, "Come on Luke! Look around, I'm clearly not bothering anyone," the woman, Lorelai, dramatically motioned around the room to prove her point.

Luke gestured towards me, "Incase you hadn't noticed I do have a customer in here," The woman looked at me and I decided to speak up, "You know, a game of bagel hockey wouldn't bother me at all, in fact, I think it would only improve my dining experience."

Lorelai turned to Luke and gave him a loud, "Ha!" and with that Luke turned back to the kitchen and mumbled something about checking on the food.

Lorelai looked at me, "You are my new best friend," I giggled and she continued, "So I think our first official act as best friends should be to introduce ourselves," she stuck out her hand and announced, "I'm Lorelai," I shook her and introduced myself, "Nice to meet you Lorelai, I'm Grace and I'm glad to be at your service."

"Well Grace, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship, except…" she paused for a moment, "Gosh, it just seems like a really bad time to do this, you know, being new best friends at all, but I'm going to have to kick you off the bagel hockey team." I laughed to myself, Lorelai was definitely not like anyone I had ever met before.

I faked my hurt reaction and she continued, "I mean, I'm sure you're a great player and all, but there is a daily 10 cups of coffee requirement that is obviously going to be an issue for you."

I wasn't quite sure what to do for a minute, my "new best friend," Lorelai looked so serious, "Well, I guess you have to do what you have to do. Maybe we should come up with a new sport that doesn't require coffee."

Without even having to think about it she blurted out that there, "Is no sport ever invented or ever to be invented that is worth playing without coffee."

Luke came back out with my food, I hadn't eaten since early that morning and it looked so good! I began to eat and Lorelai began to question me, "So Grace, are you new around here," I tried to hurry and swallow my large bite I had just taken, "Yeah, I actually got here about, oh, 15 minutes ago," Lorelai seemed intrigued, "Really? Well, then let me be the first to welcome you to Stars Hollow, it's quite the interesting place, are you planning on staying long?"

I stopped eating, I really didn't know what my plan was, I didn't know what my plan was when I snuck out of my house, or when I walked around Hartford for half the day, or when I decided to get on a bus and see where took me, or when I walked into this diner. I decided to go with what seemed like a safe answer, "I'm not really sure, but I know I'm staying for tonight."

Lorelai looked liked she was about to ask another question, and I really didn't want to talk about where I was from, or where I'm going so I quickly jumped in, "You know, I'm afraid I didn't do my research before my trip and I didn't think to find a place to stay, do you know of any?"

She seemed to grow excited by this question and a smile appeared on her face, "Well, it just so happens that your new best friend happens to own an inn." Even though I didn't know this woman at all and for all I knew she could be serial killer, this thought comforted me. Already I felt more accepted in this town that in my own house, I don't know why, but then again, once you realize that my parents lived in my house it makes a lot more sense.

I accepted Lorelai's offer to stay in her inn, after all I had no where else to go. Lorelai called over to the inn and arranged to have someone come get me, once she was done her phone began to ring.

Luke looked up and pointed to the door, "Out," Lorelai looked at him and started to whine, "But Luuuke, it's like negative 20 degrees out," he scoffed, "Negative 20?"

She stumbled with her words for just a short moment, "Well, maybe not negative 20, but it is really, really cold! Are you going to do that to your fiancée Luke? Don't you looove me?"

Her phone stopped ringing, "Great, now I missed it and I'll have to check my message AND freeze." She pouted for a moment before he finally said, "Fine Lorelai, go ahead and check your messages, make your calls, and break the rules of the diner," she smiled and got up, knowing she had won.

While they had been talking I finished my food, I got out my money to pay Luke and he stopped me, "Uh, you don't have to worry about it, I mean, it's your first night in town and you had to talk to her all night," he said while motioning over to Lorelai.

"Ar-Are you sure? It's ok, I have the money, and I'd feel bad not paying you." I wasn't used to people doing things like this for me, "Yeah I'm sure, consider this your, 'Welcome to Stars Hollow' gift."

I could tell it wasn't easy for him to say, and after he said it he very awkwardly stood there for a moment before clearing my plate and starting to wipe the counter. I was about to say something when Lorelai came back over and announced that the car was here, I grabbed my stuff and thanked Lorelai, she smiled and said she hoped to see me around again, and I really think she meant it. Before I walked out the door I stopped and turned, "Luke," I called, he looked up from the counter, "Thanks." And with that I walked out the door, excited about my new life and loving my new town.

A/N: So that's chapter 1! I've already started on the next so it should be up soon. Just so you know this story will be a Luke/Lorelai, and I need your opinions on something. I haven't been too fond of any of Rory's boyfriend, but she will eventually be paired up with someone, so let me know who you think it should be (not Jess though, since they will technically be cousins it's just too weird for me). Please review and let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!


	2. Saving the Day

Disclaimer: Still don't own them…

Back in the diner…

(No one's POV)

Lorelai turned to Luke and walked over to the counter, "So, what was that about?" Luke looked up, "Well, I just let her have her food for free is all, it's really no big deal." Lorelai smiled, "Why Luke, you big softie," Luke rolled his eyes, "Lorelai, it's really not a big deal, I just thought since it was her first night in town and all, plus she had to put up with you all night." Lorelai leaned over the counter and kissed him, "I don't care what you say, I still think you're a big softie and I love you for it."

Luke went over to lock up the door and start to close down the diner, Lorelai turned on her stool, "So, what did you make of her? I mean, she seemed nice enough, besides the whole not liking coffee thing, but something seemed a little off."

Luke continued setting the chairs on the tables as he talked, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, there was just something very familiar about her, and she was very vague about her plans."

Luke moved behind the counter, grabbed a broom and started sweeping the floor, "You only talked to her for 5 minutes, did you except her to tell her life story, maybe she's just, I don't know, shy or something." Lorelai thought about this for a minute, "Yeah I guess, she just reminds me of well me, when I first came here."

Luke continued sweeping as Lorelai gathered her stuff, "I've got an early morning at the inn tomorrow so I better get going,"

Luke came over to her, "You mean that you've got to get the inn early to watch for the girl," Lorelai came over and kissed him, "Of course not, I have many important meetings with, uh, very important people."

Luke laughed and opened the door for her, "See you tomorrow." Lorelai walked out the door, "Bright and early! And you better have my coffee ready!"

The next morning at the Dragonfly…

(Grace's POV)

I woke up and felt more rested and free than I ever had, after getting ready I decided to try and make a plan for the day. I needed to find a more permanent place to stay, I decided I would stay here, for awhile at least, something about this town really intrigued me. Since I would be paying for a place to stay I needed a job, I had some money saved up but I knew it wouldn't last me forever. I decided I should do some exploring and see what types of places to work were in this town.

I headed down to get some breakfast and to see about getting into town, I enjoyed being able to do what I want, when I want, and not having someone telling me what to do every second of the day. I entered the lobby to hear a very frustrated Lorelai on the phone with someone while messing with the computer. I didn't want to bother her, but I decided to head over to see if I could help.

"I already told you, it's making some weird noise and is doing some weird flashing color thingy. Yes, I tried that… And that… And that… Oh yes, it's very important for my computer to be working, that's why I've been on the phone with you for the last hour. Ok well, thanks for all your 'wonderful' service." She hung up the phone and began pushing random buttons which only made the computer make more noises.

I laughed to myself and walked over, "I don't think that's going to help."

She looked over, "Oh, Grace, I didn't see you there, I'm afraid you're not exactly catching me at my best moment." She moved her hands away from the keyboard as if to give up.

"Do you mind if I look at it?" Lorelai moved out of the way so I could get into the computer, I quickly looked at and realized what the problem was, I didn't even have to stop to think about how to fix it, I just went into autopilot and within minutes I was done.

Lorelai stood there in shock, "Wait a minute, what did you, how did you?"

I smiled at her shocked expression, "It was no big deal, you just had a virus and it was one I knew how to fix." I was glad to have helped her, but it seemed like such a small thing, Lorelai apparently thought differently.

"I just spent over an hour on the phone with the stupid tech people who told me nothing, and you managed to fix it in minutes! How did you know what to do?"

I smiled, one of my favorite memories, "I spent this past summer with my brother who runs a computer repair business, part of it deals with viruses and I spent a lot of time helping them out."

Lorelai smiled, "Well you really did save the day," I started to shrug it off when she continued, "No really you did, if the computer hadn't gotten fixed all of our reservations would have been lost, the no one could come and the inn would have to close, and everyone would be out of work and we'd all be living on the streets."

I laughed at her rambling and smiled shyly at the compliment, I wasn't used to getting compliments. "You should probably back up your computer, just in case you would lose reservations, we wouldn't want you living on the street."

Lorelai said she would then started leading me somewhere, "Since you've saved the day, how about I get you some breakfast?"

"Oh, I can get breakfast myself, it's no problem."

We sat down at a table, "I insist, if I don't then you'll be able to forever be able to say that I 'Owe you one,' and that may ruin our friendship."

"Well we wouldn't want that, now would we?"

Lorelai and I ordered some food and had a great time talking, I couldn't remember the last time I had felt this content, or if I ever felt this appreciated. Eventually the conversation turned to my plans, "Have you decided whether or not you'll be staying in Stars Hollow?"

I don't know why, but I suddenly didn't mind talking about it, "I think I will, it's an interesting place."

"And you haven't even met Kirk yet, you might change you mind after you do, and that reminds me, there's a few other people you need to watch out for, I'll try and point them out later."

I stopped mid-bite, "Later?"

Lorelai didn't miss a beat, "Well yeah, since you're staying here you're going to need some place to live, I thought we could go look for some later."

I couldn't believe it, "Really!" Lorelai smiled, "Yes really, and I was thinking since apartments aren't free that maybe you could work here at the inn, and before start protesting, yes really, and yes we need your help. You saw me on the computer and guess what, I'm the best one at fixing it. I'm sure you could quickly pick up the front desk work and if you don't like it we'll find you something else."

I realized that I had stopped moving completely, Lorelai was looking a little worried and I think she was telling me to say something, or at least blink.

"That um, that sounds great! But I can I ask you something?" Lorelai nodded her head, "I don't mean to sound unappreciative, because I'm not, but why are you doing this? You don't even know me, how do you know I won't rip you off or something?"

Lorelai sat and for the first time I saw her being completely serious, "Many, many years ago I came to this town a lot like you did, I didn't have much, except a 1 year old daughter, I had no references, skills, or anything. But people didn't care and the still took a chance with me, and I know I wouldn't be where I am know if it wasn't for them."

I knew without a doubt that this is where I wanted to stay, "Lorelai, I'm glad to accept the job, and gladly invite the help," Lorelai stood up, "Great! Then let's get to work!"

A/N: I'm looking for a beta for this story, if anyone is interested please e-mail me and put Full Circle in the subject. Thanks! And as always, please review and let me know what you think!


	3. A Place to Stay

Full Circle

Disclaimer: Still don't own them, though I probably should add that I do own Grace, and any other characters you may not recognize, they are all figments of my imagination.

Lorelai and I headed back over to the desk, she stopped suddenly like she had a second thought, my heart stopped for a moment, "Hey since you're like working for me now, it might be good to know your full name." I felt a little silly for freaking out, but at least Lorelai didn't know, "Oh yeah, that could be good, my last name is Bennett, so it's uh, Grace Bennett."

Lorelai gave me a look, I guess I shouldn't have stumbled over my name, "Sorry, I really do know my name, and it is my real name, I have ID and everything I can show you…"

"No, no, it's not that, your last name just seems really familiar." I looked at Lorelai; she didn't seem like someone who would've come from my kind of family, but maybe…

"So since you know my last name am I allowed to know yours?"

"Oh yeah, guess I hadn't thought of that either, it's Gilmore, Lorelai Gilmore." I stopped when I heard her last name, I knew that last name.

Lorelai started walking again and I followed, lost in my thoughts. I knew the name, where did I know the name from? No doubt from one of the many functions my parents were always going to. Lorelai hadn't said anything yet so I guessed that she was still trying to figure it out, "Wait a minute! Do you know… Oh wait, no, that wouldn't be right. Man, that's gonna bother me now. Oh well…"

I'll admit I was relieved she forgot about it. I was liking my new life and I wasn't ready to think about my old life.

For the rest of the morning and into early afternoon Lorelai showed me around the inn and started training me on what she called the important things, like all the ways she likes to annoy Michel. At about one Lorelai headed off to a meeting and I went up to my room.

I knew what I needed to do next, but I knew he would be mad. Well, maybe not mad, but I'm sure he had heard by now and was worried, or had he even heard yet? Knowing my parents they probably didn't even care I was gone. After staring at the phone for about 5 more minutes I finally picked it up and dialed a familiar number, the number of the one person I could count on in my family, and quite possibly the only person who cared. After a few rings the phone picked up.

"_Hello?"_

I paused, "Um, hey Ty."

"_Gracie? Where are you? Are you ok? What happened?"_ I could hear the panic in his voice.

"I'm fine Ty, I'm in Stars Hollow."

"_Where in the world is Stars Hollow?"_

"It's about 30 minutes away from Hartford."

"_Wow, you sure know how to run away, think you could've gotten anywhere closer?" _I laughed, leave it to Ty to joke about it.

"Well, I'm sorry that some people don't have their parents practically throwing money at them, I can't afford one of those expensive tickets to New York." I joked back with him, very relieved that he wasn't mad.

"_Oh come on now, I know for a fact that's not true, you made some good money this summer."_

"Good enough to get there maybe but not good enough to stay."

"_You know you could've stayed with me Gracie"_

"I know Ty, but this is just something I need to do on my own." That might seem like a simple sentence, but it wasn't. Ty had always been my protector, always looking out for me, he never liked the way my parents treated me and he let them know it. Sometimes I think that it was only because of him that my parents kept me around.

"_I know, believe me, I know. So what happened?"_

"Ah, you mean what made me finally snap?"

"_Yep, that's the story I'm looking for, so stop putting it off and tell me already." _I had to smile, he knew me too well.

"To be honest it really wasn't anything that out of the ordinary. Alyssa and Matthew came over for dinner, and of course they brought the freakishly well behaved Jimmy and Carrie."

"_Ah, the ever perfect daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids."_

"Just like always it turned into a full on attack and I just couldn't deal with it anymore. I gathered up what little I actually wanted to bring with me and I snuck out. I'm surprised she actually called and told you I was gone."

"_Well we both failed to make an appearance at the Spaulding's party so she called to complain, and after I told her I had a business meeting she casually mentioned it." _Sounded like my mother, only caring that I had missed a function.

"Do you think I should call them? I don't want them to worry."

I heard him sigh, _"Honestly Gracie, I think they deserve to worry, and if it were me I would probably let them, but you're not me and I know you would worry about them worrying, so they should probably know, but let me be the one to tell them." _I started to protest when he stopped me, _"You know that if you talk to them they are going to freak out at you. You might as well let me tell them, they can never stay mad at me for long." _He had a point.

"Yeah I guess you're right. I'd better get going; I'm supposed to be going to find an apartment soon. Can you believe it? I'm getting an apartment, my own apartment!"

"_Let me know how it goes, and if you need anything, and I do mean anything you better call and let me know."_

"I will Ty, thanks."

"_Always Gracie, always. Love you."_

"Love you too, bye."

I hung up the phone and was glad I decided to call. I needed to talk to him and I needed to know I had his support. I headed downstairs to meet Lorelai; it was time to apartment shop.

4 hours later at Luke's

Lorelai and I had no luck, everything was too expensive or too gross, although I suppose I'd go back to the gross if nothing else turned up. No matter how it turned out, it would be my place. The diner was busy and Lorelai was starving so she went to find Luke and beg for our food to be put right away before she starved to death, she's definitely a little dramatic, but it keeps things interesting.

Lorelai came back and sat down, "The quest for food didn't turn out so well, all I got was a 'Wait your turn, I'll be there in a minute,' in that really crabby Luke voice, that I will admit I think is so very sexy, but I did get some coffee so I'd say it was a partial success." I laughed at her rambling; Lorelai could talk more than any person I had ever met.

"Ok, what can I get you?" According to Lorelai, Luke had, "finally," come to take our order. After taking our order Luke came back to talk about the apartment hunting.

I sighed, "It sucked, nothing was right, everything was way too expensive or way too nasty." Luke seemed genuinely sorry, "Hopefully something will turn up,"

I gave him a small smile, then he turned to Lorelai, "Can I talk to you for a minute?" They headed off to somewhere I couldn't see them and I continued to sit and pull out the newspaper again to try and find a place.

Luke's apartment

(Nobody's POV)

Luke quickly ushered Lorelai in and shut the door, "Ok Lukey, where's the fire?"

Luke glared at her, "Don't call me that."

After a nervous and very awkward moment Luke spoke up, "Lorelai I have something I want to run by you."

Lorelai nodded for him to continue, "Well you know we're getting married soon,"

Lorelai laughed, "Yes Luke, I was aware of that fact."

Luke nervously laughed, "Right of course, well I was just thinking that since we are getting married and eventually will be living together that maybe we should just move in together now."

Lorelai immediately smiled and went to give Luke a big hug, "I would love that."

They stood there for a moment just enjoying each other's presence and thinking about the future before Lorelai had a thought, "Luke? You realize that you're now going to have an open apartment."

Luke looked at her knowing the both had the same thought, "Yes, the thought had crossed my mind." They both smiled, "So do you think she would?"

Lorelai leaned in to kiss him, "I think she would love it." They both headed back downstairs to talk to Grace.

A/N: A lot of this chapter ended up being Ty and Grace's conversation, but you will eventually come to see that Ty is a very important person to Grace. You may also notice that Lorelai and Grace's backgrounds are starting to look a little similar. They are, in a way, more will be revealed about Grace's parents later. And the next chapter will be Luke and Lorelai talking to Grace about the apartment and Rory will make her first appearance. Thanks again for reading and please review!


	4. Meeting Rory

I watched Lorelai and Luke emerge from wherever they went for their mysterious discussion, they came back over to the table. Something was up, Lorelai could barely contain her excitement and Luke wouldn't make eye contact, he was about to say something when the door opened.

"Hey Mom, Hey Luke!" A girl with brown hair and the same blue eyes as Lorelai walked in.

Lorelai's face lit up, "Rory! What are you doing here?"

The girl named Rory smiled, "Well gee Mom, good to see you too,"

They hugged, "Always good to see you Sweets, I just thought you had a class."

"I did, but it was cancelled so I thought I'd come home for the weekend."

I looked over at Luke who was still standing nervously, Lorelai walked over to him, "Well good thing you did, Luke and I are going to need your help this weekend."

At this point Lorelai was basically jumping up and down, Rory looked at her mom and Luke, "What's going on?"

Luke finally spoke up, "Your mom and I are moving in together!"

I watched with excitement at Rory basically jumped Luke and Lorelai, hugging them both at one time. Lorelai and Rory started jumping up and down together while Luke mumbled something about their being customers. I was glad for them, I had only known them a day but I already knew they were supposed to be together.

Lorelai and Rory walked over to the counter to get some coffee and Luke started to follow, but then suddenly turned around. He motioned to the chair, "Can I sit?"

I nodded and he sat down, "So I guess you heard the big news."

I nodded again, "Yep, congratulations, I'm really excited for you guys."

We sat there, not sure of what to say to each other before Luke spoke up again, "You know, since I'll be moving in with Lorelai I'll have an open apartment."

I sat in a somewhat state of shock, was this really happening? I meet some of the coolest people, get a job, and an apartment all in under 24 hours?

I was starting to think it was too good to be true, but Luke continued speaking, "If you want it I could give you a really good deal, it's not the biggest place, but it's clean and I think it would do."

I quickly blinked away the tears that were coming to my eyes, "That would be great Luke, so when I can I see it?"

Luke smiled and looked relieved, "Wanna go now?" I stood up, "Lead the way."

:Over at the counter:

(Nobody's POV)

Grace and Luke headed up to the apartment and Lorelai and Rory continued talking at the counter, "So who was that with Luke," Rory asked, while motioning towards the stairs that Grace and Luke had just walked up.

Lorelai glanced at the steps, "Oh that's Grace, she's new in town."

Rory looked confused, "Why is she going upstairs with Luke?"

"Well since Luke is going to be living with me, he offered her his apartment."

"Oh, how long has she been in town? I've never heard you mention her before."

"Actually, she just got into town last night."

"Wow, and he's already offering his apartment?"

"Yeah," Lorelai paused, "Also, I gave her a job at the inn."

Rory was shocked, "That's all very sudden isn't it?"

Lorelai sighed, "I guess it is, but I don't know, there's just something about her. She reminds me a little of when we first moved here, only she is really lacking in confidence. Plus it seems we both have sucky families, well, she never actually said it, but she won't talk about them. Anytime the subject of family or her past came up she always very quickly changed the subject, and she doesn't even like saying her last name."

Rory thought about the situation for a moment, "I'm glad you're helping her out, it sounds like you're just the person for the job."

Lorelai smiled, "Hey, so since you're here do you want to do a movie night tonight?"

"Definitely, but first I need to meet this Grace."

"Well then, let's go!"

Luke's apartment

(Grace's POV)

Luke's apartment was amazing, it was the perfect size and Luke gave me an amazing deal on the rent, I tried to protest it but he wouldn't take no for an answer. I looked around the apartment again, amazed that I had a place of my own, or at least I would soon have a place of my own. Luke said that since most of his stuff was already at Lorelai's he could be moved out in a couple of days, after that the place would be mine.

I heard voices coming up the stairs and turned to see Lorelai and Rory walk through the door. "Hey Grace, I realized that in all the madness I forgot to introduce you to my daughter. Grace this is Rory, Rory this is Grace."

Rory reached out to shake my hand, "Nice to meet you Grace, so what do you think of the place?"

I smiled at Rory, she reminded me a lot of Lorelai. "It's great! I still can't believe how well things are coming together."

Luke started talking about getting some papers together so everything would be official when Lorelai stopped him, "Hold on now, it's Friday night and I for one do not want to spend the night being bored talking about boring legal stuff. So, I propose that we all head back to our house for movie night, and leave the legal crap for another time."

"I have to close up here, but you three should go and have a girls night or something," Luke said.

More than anything I wanted to go, but I didn't want to intrude. It didn't seem like Lorelai and Rory got to spend that much time together, I didn't want to be in the way. "You guys can just go ahead, I'm just gonna head back to the inn."

Lorelai and Rory both looked at each other for a minute before coming over to me, "Oh please Grace, please, please, please come with us," Lorelai said just like a small child would. Rory chimed in with, "Come on Grace it'll be fun, I promise, it's tons of free junk food."

I smiled, this was going to be fun.

A/N: I realize it probably seems very odd that Luke would give up his apartment so easily, especially with being right over the diner and with the family history and all, but I think it's something that Luke would do, he is kind of a softy like that. Plus since Lorelai is really into helping Grace I think that would be just another reason for Luke to be. Oh and I'm not sure if when Luke redid his apartment if he made a separate room for Jess, but in my story there is a separate bedroom. Thanks for reading and please review!


	5. It's Not All Fun and Games

Full Circle

Disclaimer: I still only own Grace (and Ty).

After leaving Luke's we stopped at Doose's to get more junk food than I ever knew was made, then went and got a movie. They ended up choosing, "_Cannibal! The Musical,_" it was interesting, to say the least, and probably not something I'd watch for fun, but Lorelai and Rory's commentary made it all worth it.

During the move we ate, and ate, and ate, and ate. There was more junk food there than I think was in the store, and I hadn't even heard of half of it. Plus, as if that wasn't bad enough Lorelai and Rory enjoyed mixing things together and making, "new snacks," and I wasn't feeling the best before we starting eating. Needless to say, I was definitely feeling a little sick.

Once the movie was over we tried to decide what to do and somehow it ended up coming up that I had never seen Willy Wonka, I think I put Lorelai and Rory into shock. They put the movie in quicker than I had ever seen anyone move. Just as the kid fell into the chocolate and the Oompa Loompas started appearing, something that made Lorelai squeal with joy, I started feeling sick, really sick.

"Hey Lorelai?" I tried asking, but she just shushed me, so I tried again, "Lorelai?"

Again I was shushed and she pointed to the Oompa Loompas, luckily Rory spoke up, "She won't talk while the Oompa Loompas are on."

I sat there trying to compose myself, "Where is your bathroom?"

Rory pointed to it and I stood up, but as soon as I did I knew I didn't have a lot of time, I ran into the bathroom and started throwing up, just barely making it to the toilet. As I leaned over the toilet, tears came to my eyes and I continued vomiting, within a moment hands came, pulled back my hair and started rubbing my back.

Once I was done I sat back and saw that it was Lorelai beside me, she asked if I was ok. I was about to say yes when it was clear that I wasn't and I leaned back over the toilet. I heard Lorelai ask Rory to get a damp washcloth and some Ginger Ale. After another moment I slowly sat back, afraid to move, Lorelai handed me the cup and told me to take a sip. I slowly did, afraid of the results, but nothing happened.

"I don't want to jinx anything here, but how are you doing?"

I looked over at Lorelai, "Well, I wouldn't mind brushing my teeth."

Lorelai smiled at me then looked at Rory, "Hun, I think there's a new toothbrush in my bathroom, can you go check?" Rory left the bathroom and Lorelai turned to me again, "Do you think you can move to the couch?"

I slowly nodded my head and Lorelai helped me get up and we headed to the couch. I laid down and she covered me with a blanket, she told me she'd be right back, but before she was I fell fast asleep.

Nobody's POV

Rory came back down the stairs to see Grace asleep on the couch, "Mom?" she whispered.

"In here!" Lorelai called quietly from the kitchen, "Is she asleep?"

"Oh yeah, she's out, do you think she's ok?"

Lorelai smiled at her daughters compassion, "I'm sure she's fine hun, I'm sure it was just all the junk food."

"Yeah, you're probably right, she just doesn't have the tolerance that we do."

Lorelai and Rory sat down at the table, "So what do you think of her?"

"I don't know, she seems nice enough, but she was very," Rory stopped and searched for the right word, "Proper."

Lorelai gasped, "That's it! I knew there was something, I just couldn't figure out what. You're right though, the whole night she was very proper and she even seemed scared, like she was afraid to do or say the wrong thing."

"I wonder what her story is?"

"I'm not sure, but I've got a hunch that it wasn't good." Lorelai stood up, "It's getting late so I'm gonna head to bed," She kissed the top of Rory's head, "Night sweets."

"Night Mom," Lorelai started to walk away, "Hey Mom," Lorelai stopped, "I think it's really great that you're doing this."

"Doing what?"

"You know, you're kind of taking Grace under your wing, helping her out. I think it's great."

Lorelai smiled, "Night."

Grace's POV

I had woken up late the next morning and found a note and toothbrush left on the table for me, Lorelai and Rory both were gone already but they said I should stay as long as I liked and not to worry about going into to work. I took that day to look around Stars Hollow, meet the people, and do a little shopping.

The next day I started work, it was all going very well, I learned fast and Lorelai seemed impressed. I moved into Luke's old apartment the day after that and with the money I had saved up from working last summer I was able to buy a cheap car.

After that everything fell into a routine and the days quickly turned into weeks. Everything seemed to be going so well, except for one thing. I never quite got back to feeling better, I still got nauseous and was throwing up, a lot. There was only one thing that it could possibly be after all this time, but I didn't want to consider that possibility.

I was up in my apartment watching TV and waiting for Lorelai to come up, she was supposed to be helping me decide how I wanted to decorate, I didn't want to repaint, I still felt the place was Luke's, but I wanted to add a little something to it. I heard Lorelai outside the door and I called her in when it happened, I ran to the bathroom and she followed me in, I had only been getting sick at night so I had been able to hid it, but now I had been caught.

Just like that night at Lorelai's I felt a hand holding my hair and the other stroking my back, I sat back and started to sob.

Lorelai wrapped her arms around me as I cried, "Grace, honey, what's wrong?"

I knew I had to tell her, I had to tell somebody, I had no idea what to do, "I-I've been sick like this for awhile now," I tried to tell her through my tears, "Ever since that night at your house."

Lorelai stopped rubbing my back for a moment and leaned back to look at me, "That was 4 weeks ago," she said in a shocked voice.

I looked at her, it was now or never, I drew in a shaky breath and then proclaimed, "I think I'm pregnant."

Lorelai sat, shocked, "Well, um, how long has it been since-"

I answered her before she could finish, "About 2 months."

Lorelai stood up and quickly turned into take charge mode, "Well ok, we need a plan. First we need to find out for sure, so we need to get a test, but we can't get one here." She thought for a moment, "I guess we should go to Hartford."

"No!" I quickly shouted, though the chance of running into them was slim, I didn't want to risk it.

Lorelai gave me a puzzled look before she continued, "Ok, then, we'll go to Litchfield instead."

I sighed, "I'm sorry Lorelai."

She sat down beside me again, "For what?"

I continued looking at the floor, "For all this you have to deal with, for me throwing up, and you have to drive me all the way to Litchfield. You don't have to you know, I can take myself."

Lorelai lifted my face so that I was looking at her, "I know I don't have to, I want to. And you have nothing to be sorry for." She gave me a smile then helped me up off the floor, "Come on, let's go."

After a long nervous drive and a stop at a gross gas station bathroom I was sitting in Lorelai's Jeep waiting for my results, and I was nervous. I didn't know how to feel about this, it obviously would mess things up, but maybe, possibly it could be good? We sat in silence as we waited, there was nothing to be said. My cell phone alarm beeped and I looked down. Pregnant.

A/N: A little twist, but just another thing that is going to come full circle, you'll see what I mean later. I'm pretty sure I know the name and sex already but I will always take suggestions. And next chapter we will be learning even more about Grace as she and Lorelai talk about the dad and a little about her family. Please review and let me know what you think (good or bad!).


	6. Working it Out

I sat for what seemed like the longest time just staring at that single word, I still couldn't believe it. After awhile I couldn't hold it back any longer and I started to cry again, softly at first, but then it turned into full-fledged sobs. Lorelai reached over and pulled me into a hug, no words were needed, I knew she knew exactly what I was feeling.

Eventually the tears slowed and I pulled back, "Lorelai, how am I supposed to do this?"

She gave me a reassuring smile, "I don't know how to explain it, but it's all just gonna come to you." The look on my face clearly showed that I didn't believe her, "I know you probably don't believe me, I wouldn't have believed me either. Somehow I still managed to do it though, and you already have so much more than I did. You have a job, a place to live, a support system."

I rolled my eyes, "What support system?"

"Well me for one, Rory, Luke, we'll help out however we can, and what about Ty?"

I guess it was true, but I had a hard time believing it, no one had ever really cared before. Lorelai started speaking again, and it seemed she was trying to speak very carefully, "What about your parents Grace?"

It wasn't quite something I wanted to talk about or think about, but it wasn't like the answer was that complicated, "No. They won't want anything to do with us." Us. The thought struck me, It wasn't just me anymore, it was us.

"Are you sure? My parents were beyond furious, but they love Rory."

Tears came back to my eyes, I only wished it could be that way, "Lorelai, since I've been in Stars Hollow my parents haven't called once, my brother told them where I was, they could easily find me, but they haven't. And-" I stopped, this was the news that had hurt the worst, "About a week ago my grandparents were in town and they threw a huge family party, but they didn't even bother to tell me."

Lorelai tried again, "Are you sure they are just still upset? Maybe you should try talking to them."

"No!" I snapped back at her, "They aren't going to change their mind. James and Caroline only care about themselves and their perfect family. I was never part of the plan, they only needed their two kids, a boy and girl to complete their perfect family, then one day I came along and I ruined everything!" By this time I had gotten myself very worked up, I was now very angry and was crying so hard that I was shaking.

I could tell Lorelai was shocked by my response; she had never seen me yell before, especially not at her. She looked truly sorry at what I had to tell her, and she also must have realized it was time to stop and she tried to calm me down, "Oh honey, I'm sorry," she pulled me back into a hug, "We don't have to talk about this anymore, how about we go get something to eat?"

I took a deep breath and wiped away some tears, "Food sounds good."

We found a restaurant and Lorelai got us a table that was back out of the way, we sat down and ordered. We sat in silence, there was something I know I needed to ask, and something I'm sure Lorelai wanted to ask about. I decided to go ahead and speak up, "Lorelai?" I got her attention before I realized I had no clue what I needed to say, "I was wondering, um well, do I need to… or how do I… I mean I know he needs to know but-," she stopped me.

She placed a reassuring hand on my arm, "Hon, I know it'll be rough, but you need to. He deserves to know doesn't he?"

I nodded my head yes; "He's the only guy I've ever, well you know, been with." Lorelai didn't say anything, so I continued, "I met him this past summer in New York, he was working at my brother's company. We spent the whole summer together, all of our free time was spent together and I really think I loved him."

Lorelai asked gently, "So what happened."

I blinked back a few tears, "My parents showed up, some friends of theirs had seen me, 'Running around town with some dirty boy,' they had agreed to let me go there because they thought my brother could show me everything I was doing wrong with my life. Ty hadn't wanted me there for that reason though, he invited me there because he knew I needed the freedom, and he let me work at his company with no experience so I could earn money to get away from them. But somehow they found out and came to take me back, but before they could I snuck out to see Jake one last time and that's when it happened."

I paused for a moment, "We hadn't really planned on it, but we never thought we'd see each other again. Once I got back home my parents basically locked me in the house, I could only go places with them and I was never allowed to use the phone. I realize it probably sounds stupid, I mean I am 18 a legal adult, but I just couldn't do it at first. Finally one day they just pushed me over the edge and that's when I showed up here."

"Wow, and I thought my parents were bad," Lorelai just sat there for a moment, "So you haven't talked to Jake since you left New York?"

I shook my head, "Nope, I always wanted to and I tried a couple of times but they always stopped me." I sighed, "I miss him, and I do want him to be around, I'm just afraid that he won't want to be around."

Lorelai gave me a sympathetic look, "Well you won't know unless you try."

She was right, I did need to at least try, and I would, but not until after dinner, I needed to get my mind off of it for now. We spent the rest of the time talking about other things, happier things, and then we headed home.

Lorelai dropped me off at my apartment and made me promise that I would call if I needed anything, I agreed and headed upstairs.

I sat down on the couch, pulled out my phone, and dialed the number that I had long ago memorized but never had gotten to use.

After a couple rings he picked up, _"Hello?"_ I couldn't believe that I was actually hearing his voice, tears came to my eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that night.

"Jake? Hi, it's Grace."

There was silence on the other end. _"Grace?"_

"Yep, it's me," I nervously laughed, "So it's been awhile."

"_Uh yeah, it has. So where have you been Grace, what happened?"_

I cringed, he did not sound happy, "I'm sorry Jake, I-I tried to call sooner, but my parents wouldn't let me, but I finally got away and I'm living on my own in Stars Hollow."

"_Why didn't you come back to New York?"_

"I wanted to, but I needed to get myself on my feet first, and I really like it here."

More silence, I held my breath, I didn't want him to be angry, _"I miss you Grace, I want to see you."_

I breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't sound angry, just concerned, "I miss you too, and I have something I need to tell you."

"_Ok, go ahead."_

I wanted to but I stopped myself, "Not like this, I need to tell you in person."

"_Ok, well what are you doing tomorrow?_

"Absolutely nothing, it's my day off."

"_How about I come down tomorrow and see your place and we can talk then."_

"Really?"

"_Of course, I'll call tomorrow morning to get directions"_

I smiled, "See you tomorrow."

I was so excited that I immediately started cleaning my apartment, I really wanted to tell someone, but who? Lorelai dropped me off a long time ago, except… The diner was open when she dropped me off and Luke was down there. I started heading down the stairs, if I knew Lorelai she was sitting at the counter with her coffee talking to Luke. I turned the corner, saw her, and gave her a big smile. "He's coming!"

She gave me an even bigger smile back, "Wow! When?"

I realized I was standing behind the counter and Luke was giving me, "The Look." I quickly ran to sit beside Lorelai, "Tomorrow sometime, he's coming to see everything and to talk."

"To talk?" Lorelai gave me a questioning look.

I lowered my voice to just above a whisper, "Yeah, I just couldn't tell him over the phone."

Luke looked over at us and Lorelai answered me in the same hushed tone, "I understand, but you're telling him for sure tomorrow?"

"Yep." I raised my voice back to a normal level, "Don't worry Luke, it's safe to come back over now."

Luke pretended he didn't know he wasn't wanted, "Do you want anything to eat, pie or something?"

My stomach turned, "No, no pie or food, I'm fine. In fact I'm going back up now, I've got some stuff to get done. Bye Luke, bye Lorelai and thanks again."

Lorelai smiled and waved, "Anytime hun, let me know how everything goes tomorrow." I said I would and I ran up the stairs.

Luke turned to Lorelai, "So what was that all about?"

"Oh just some girl talk."

Luke gave her a look that clearly said he didn't believe her.

"You know I'd tell you if I could Luke, but I can't, I promise you'll find out soon enough. For now though things need to be kept quiet."

"I know you will, just don't make me have to find out from Babette or Miss Patty."

"I promise you'll know before them, now how about some more coffee?" The ever-present coffee bickering followed until like always, Luke gave in.

A/N: I've really got nothing to say, except as always, thanks for reading! And please review and let me know what you think!


	7. Enter Jake

I looked around my apartment; it had never been cleaner. I had tried to get to sleep last night but I was too excited and had only slept for a few hours. After that I had gotten up and started cleaning, I wanted everything to be perfect.

Jake had just called and said he would be here in about an hour. I needed to find something to do with my time, there was absolutely nothing left to clean, I already had breakfast and I think I freaked Luke out. As soon as I heard him downstairs I ran down to get food, then I was too nervous to eat it.

I was already dressed in my favorite pair of blue jeans, a pair that I had bought while shopping with Jake in New York. My shirt was a light blue with different swirly and sparkly designs on it; I had straightened all the waves out of my brown hair and was wearing it down. I had gotten my hair cut since moving to Stars Hollow so it was now shoulder length and layered around my face. I normally don't care too much about my appearance, but for this day I had taken a lot of time getting ready.

I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV, after clicking through the channels I realized there was nothing on. After I sat there for a moment I started to realize how tired I was so I laid down on the couch and decided to rest my eyes for just a moment.

A little while later my phone started ringing and I realized that I had fallen asleep, I got off the couch and answered my phone. "Hello?"

"_Grace, Hi, where are you?"_

Jake? I glanced at the clock, 1 hour and 15 minutes from the time I had laid down, "I'm in my apartment, were are you?"

"_I'm outside of the diner, I tried to come up but the guy behind the counter wouldn't let me, then I tried to call you and he made me go outside."_

Luke. Shoot, I meant to let him know. "Sorry Jake, that's Luke he owns the apartment and the diner, go back in and I'll be right down."

I hung up the phone and went downstairs. I turned the corner and saw him there with his same curly brown hair and amazing green eyes, he flashed me a smile and I ran over to hug him.

"Hey you," Jake said.

"Is that all I get after all this time, just a 'Hey you'?" I joked with him.

He leaned in closer, "Well, I would greet you better, but scary diner man is staring at us."

I laughed and turned to look at Luke, as soon as he saw me looking he turned away, I grabbed Jake's hand and pulled him over to the counter, "Come on, I'll introduce you, he's really not as scary as he seems."

"Luke," I called, and he turned back towards me, "This is my uh- Jake, this is Jake."

He gave me a look, "Your Jake?"

I wasn't sure what to say, "Well, um…"

Jake jumped, "Yeah, I'm her Jake, and you must be Luke." He reached out to shake Luke's hand, I grabbed Jake's other hand in a silent thank you.

There was an odd exchange between the two, Luke seemed to be issuing some sort of warning or challenge and Jake seemed to be accepting it. I decided it was time to speak up, "Well we've got a lot to do today, so we should be going," I glanced at Jake, "I just have to go grab my stuff."

Jake looked at Luke then back at me; "I'll come up with you." There was a very weird vibe in the diner so after quickly showing Jake my apartment I decided it was time to show him the town. On the way out of the diner I said bye to Luke and I think he watched us leave, something was weird with him.

Jake and I walked around town for awhile; I pointed out all the cool local places, and the odd local people. We almost had to stop and talk to Miss Patty, but luckily we turned the corner just in time. Jake had wanted to see where I was working so we headed to the Dragonfly so I could show him around and we could get some lunch.

Lorelai knew we were coming by so I was surprised when she wasn't watching out the windows waiting for us to arrive. We walked into the lobby and I saw her on the phone she seemed frustrated, "Mom I told you I had an emergency and I couldn't make it. No mom, I told you Rory and I are both fine." I looked at her and waved, "Sorry Mom some guests just came in so I'll have to talk to you later. No Mom I have to go, bye." She growled and hung up the phone, I didn't know what her mom was upset about, but I knew where she was last night, her mom was upset because of me, great.

"You guys have the best timing, thank you." Lorelai walked over, "So are you going to make me introduce myself?"

"Oh no, sorry, Lorelai this is Jake, Jake this is Lorelai."

Lorelai reached out to shake Jake's hand, "Hi Jake, nice to meet you, I'm Grace's boss and ex-bagel hockey team member but we don't need to get into that now."

Jake gave her a confused look, "Well ok then, nice to meet you Lorelai, this is a great place you have here."

"Thank you, have you gotten a chance to look around yet?"

"Not yet," I told her, "We went out and saw Cletus and Desdemona but that's as far as we've gotten."

"Well I'll leave you two to your tour," Lorelai walked away, I pointed Jake towards the dining room and as he started to walk away Lorelai turned around and mouthed the word, "Hottie," to me, I laughed and followed Jake.

After the tour of the Dragonfly and lunch we headed back to my apartment to hang out. Luke watched us as we went upstairs but I ignored it, there was too much else on my mind. I needed to tell him and time was running out.

We both sat down on the couch, we had the most amazing day together and I hated the thought of ruining it. I thought about not telling him now, but I knew I needed to, he deserved to know and to be honest, I needed his support. I could only hope he would give it to me.

"Jake, I need to tell you something."

"Ok, shoot."

I took a deep breath, "It's big, really big." I was trying to bring myself to say it.

"Grace, what's wrong? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, it's just that I, well, I'm pregnant Jake."

He sat there, shocked, it was obviously not what he was expecting, he got up and started pacing the floor, "Wow, oh wow, are you sure?" I nodded my head, "And it's mine?"

I rolled my eyes, "Of course it's yours."

He sat back down, "I know, it's just not exactly something I planned on."

I gave a little laugh, "Well it wasn't exactly on my to-do list either," I paused, I didn't want to say this but I felt I had to, "You know Jake, you don't have to be involved if you don't want, I won't make you."

For the first time since I told him he stopped moving and looked right at me, "Grace there's no way I'm going to leave you alone to deal with this. We got into this situation together and we'll get through it together. I'm afraid you're stuck with me."

I felt relief come over me, "Well you're kinda cute at least, so it's not a total loss." I joked with him.

He pulled me into his arms and we leaned back into the couch, "We'll make it work Grace, somehow we'll make it work."

Not long after that Jake decided to head home, he had to work in the morning, but we made plans to meet up in a couple of days. After he left I decided to call Lorelai, I knew she was curious and had probably been waiting by the phone all night.

"_Hello."_

"Hey Luke, is Lorelai there?"

"_Hey Grace, she's right here, she was just afraid it was her mother again."_

Lorelai came on the phone, _"Ok so tell me everything."_

"Is Luke still around?"

"_No I just walked out of the room, it's safe. So details. Spill. Now."_

"It was an amazing day, we talked and laughed it was like we'd never been apart."

"_Aw, sweet. Did you tell him?"_

"Yes I did. He took it pretty well, he was shocked of course, but he says he's going to be around and I think I believe him. We're meeting up soon to talk more specifics and I called and got my first doctor's appointment and he's coming with me."

"_That's great hun!"_

"Yeah it is. Did Luke say anything about Jake or me?"

"_Not that I can remember, why?"_

"Well he met him in the diner and it was really weird. It was like he didn't want Jake talking to me, he was being really protective or something."

"_That's so cute! And I'm going to tease him about that forever. You know he did the same thing with Rory too."_

"Really?"

"_Yeah, he's never really cared for any of her boyfriends, he never thought anyone was ever good enough for her."_

"And you really think he was being like that for me?"

"_It sounds like it hun."_

I smiled to myself, I liked that Luke wanted to protect me and I also came to a realization, "Hey Lorelai, can you do me a favor?"

"_Sure, what do you need?"_

"I know it's probably not fair to ask you to do this, but can you keep this a secret from Luke a little bit longer? I really think I should tell him myself."

"_I'll try, he does know something is up, but I promise I won't mention it to him. You should probably do it soon though."_

"Thanks Lorelai, I will. Ok, I should probably get going, but I'll see you at work tomorrow."

"_Bye hun."_

After a crappy yesterday things seem to be turning around. Of course there's still plenty more to deal with but maybe, just maybe I can do this.

A/N: Again, I don't have much to say here besides thanks for reading! And also, thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! And if you haven't been reviewing, please do. Even it's not something good, constructive critiscm is always helpful!


	8. Everything Comes Out

I woke up and glanced over at the clock, it was after 10, I didn't have to go to work until 1 and I was taking advantage of being able to sleep in. Lately I had been so exhausted it seemed like all of my free time was spent sleeping, at least the morning or in my case night sickness had started to subside.

I placed a hand on my stomach and thought back over the last 2 weeks. Jake and I had gone to my first doctors appointment, everything looked great so far both me and little baby it are healthy, and we got to actually see it and hear the heartbeat! It made it all very real and for the first time I was excited, we were excited.

After our appointment Jake and I had a long talk, he surprised me by telling me he had found a job and an apartment in Stars Hollow, it wasn't a great job but it would work. He will be moving here in about a week, but even with still living in New York he had made many trips here in the last 2 weeks. We were officially dating again, we were taking things slow but so far it was all going well.

We still hadn't told anyone else, the only people who knew were Jake, Lorelai and I, although we weren't going to be able to keep it a secret for much longer. I was 11 weeks pregnant and was already beginning to show, not enough to be really noticeable but I knew it wouldn't be long until I was.

The plan for the day was that after a lot of sleeping I would somehow work up the nerve to tell Ty, and Luke, and everyone else. I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to do it. I had no idea how Ty would take it, after all this was the first time I had gotten pregnant, and while he seemed to like Jake I still wasn't sure.

I heard someone knocking on the door so I quickly put on a robe and went to answer it. I opened the door and was shocked and excited at what I saw, "Ty!" I threw my arms around him, "What are you doing here?"

Ty laughed, "I came to see my favorite little sister of course."

"Well it's about time, come in and see the place. Oh and hey, how did you get past Luke?" I asked, remembering how he wouldn't let Jake up.

"It took some convincing, I had to show him ID and he had to run a full background check but he finally caved."

I laughed, "Yeah Luke is a little protective," I suddenly realized I was still in my pajamas and a robe, "Do you mind just hanging out here for a minute? I'm going to go get changed."

I headed into the bedroom, well, at least I can tell him in person. I quickly got changed and threw my hair back into a ponytail before heading out. When I walked back into the main room I saw Ty looking at the framed picture I had placed on a side table. I stopped, it was the picture from my first ultrasound, Lorelai had given me the yellow frame with bumblebees that had written out in black letters, "Baby's First Picture," she said I should put it in the baby's room when it was born. I had been looking at it last night and had forgotten to put it away.

Ty just stood there looking at it, I couldn't tell what he was thinking, his face was completely blank. He slowly looked up from the picture at me, "Gracie, what is this?"

I tried to remain calm, "I'm so, so sorry Ty, I meant to tell you sooner, I really did, I just didn't know how."

Ty still stood there not saying anything when the door opened and Jake walked in. He stopped in the doorway when he saw what was happening, I saw him look from Ty and the picture to me. Ty turned to look at Jake then looked back at me, "Did he do this?"

I tried to joke and lighten the mood, "Well half of it." Ty didn't seem amused.

Jake started to move closer to me but a glare from Ty stopped him, "Stay away from her."

"Ty-" He didn't let me finished.

"No Grace, I think he's done enough." The tension in the room was very high, it suddenly became overwhelming and the room started to spin. I heard them both yell my name and run over before it all went black.

I woke up to find Jake cradling my head in his lap and Ty was fanning my face, I tried to sit up and they both held me down.

"Don't move Grace, you need to sit still for a minute," Jake said as he reached to hold my hand.

Ty got up, went to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water, "Here Gracie, try drinking this."

As I was taking a sip I heard the sound of footsteps running up the stairs, the door opened and Luke appeared. "I heard yelling and big crash," He ran over, "Grace are you ok?"

I looked over the faces of the 3 men that surrounded me and I rubbed my head, "Um yeah, I'm fine I think."

I could tell that Jake was worried about the baby, but I was thankful he didn't say anything. Unfortunately Ty didn't know that Luke didn't know about the baby, and after trying to figure out how to say the words he asked, "Is the baby ok?"

Luke turned to look at me, "The baby? Are you pregnant?"

The room started to spin again, I began to wonder if this day could get any worse, I tried to sit up again only to find out that I couldn't, "Luke, I'm sorry I didn't want you to find out like this," I turned my head towards Ty, "And I didn't want you to find out like this either, I was trying to think of some special way to tell you."

Ty started rubbing my hand, "Don't worry about it right now Gracie."

I closed my eyes and tried not to move, I was still so dizzy and my head hurt, Jake noticed this and asked me, "Grace do you think you can move at all?"

I tried to shake my head no, but I couldn't, "Okay guys, we need to get her to the hospital to get checked out. Ty, you grab her car keys, they should be on the table and you go bring the car up. Luke you go get a coat for her."

Jake moved to start picking me up and I whispered, "And my picture."

Jake turned back to Luke, "Her picture is on the floor over there," he pointed to where Ty had dropped it when I fell. Jake picked me up and Luke returned with my jacket and they draped it over me, after he quickly grabbed my picture Luke handed it to me. Jake carried me downstairs and through the diner with Luke following closely after him, I opened my eyes just enough to see Miss Patty sitting at one of the tables, "Great," I thought.

Jake sat with me in the back of my car on the way to the hospital while Ty drove and Luke gave him directions. I was scared that something was going to happen with the baby and it would be all my fault, if only I would've told them sooner. Jake held my hand the whole way there and he kept whispering, "It's going to be ok," in my ear, but I could tell he was scared too. As soon as we got there I was whisked away to the ER leaving the 3 guys standing there.

Jake's POV

I watched as they took Grace behind the ER doors that said Authorized Personnel Only, I wanted to follow her but the hospital staff stopped me and told me I would be notified as soon as something was known. Grace is my girlfriend, the woman carrying my child, and the only girl I had ever loved. I didn't want anything to happen to her, and even though our baby was a very unexpected surprise I already knew I loved it. I had even given it a nickname, after Grace's first ultrasound I shared with her how weird it was that there was something growing in her and living off of her, kind of like a parasite. Even since then I had taken to calling the baby, "Bug," in the most affectionate way of course.

Being back with Grace these past two weeks had been great. The two months we had spent apart had been awful, but even with all that I thought I had missed her, I didn't fully realize it until I saw her again. It didn't take me long to decide to move to Stars Hollow, I knew I needed to be close to her and our child.

The nurse pointed us to a waiting room and we sat, I placed my head in my hands and tried not to think about what could be happening. I felt a hand pat my back before the person stood up; I glanced up to see Luke walking away. He returned after a moment and we all continued to sit in silence.

About 30 minutes later we still hadn't heard anything when Lorelai showed up, Luke must have gone to call her, I thought to myself. She sat down by Luke and he quickly and quietly explained the situation. A few moments later a nurse came out, "Who's here for Eleanor Bennett?"

Ty and I both spoke up, "We are," I saw Luke and Lorelai share confused looks.

The nurse continued, "She's asking for Jake to come back," Ty started to protest but she kept talking, "The rest of you can go back in a couple minutes."

I stood up and followed her.

Grace's POV

I laid in the hospital bed waiting for Jake to come back, I closed my eyes for a moment and when I reopened them he was coming in the door.

"Hey," I said.

He sat down beside my bed and grabbed my hand; his eyes were red and puffy like he had been crying. I reached over to run my hand through his hair, "I'm ok, and Bug's ok."

He smiled at my reference to his nickname for our baby, "Where's the doctor?"

"She just went to get the ultrasound machine, they just wanted to double check everything and I thought you might want to be in here for it."

The doctor returned just then and started getting everything set up she gave the cold gel warning and started. Our baby appeared on the screen and the sound of its heartbeat filled the room. It brought tears to both of our eyes, and even more appeared when the doctor announced that everything was fine. The door opened and Luke, Ty, and Lorelai stepped in. Without words they all stepped over and watched the screen in awe, Lorelai wrapped her arm around Luke and Ty grabbed my other hand. With all the stress of the day aside, it was the perfect moment.

The doctor finished up and left me to explain the situation, nervous looks were on the faces of both Luke and Ty, "Everything is fine, I'm fine, the baby is fine. The doctor said my blood pressure was elevated so she gave me medicine for it, but she said it was most likely caused by stress."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief; Lorelai gave me a hug and told me to call her later. I could tell Luke wanted to say something, but he didn't, he just leaned down to give me a hug and told me he was glad everything was all right.

They both left and Ty asked Jake if he could talk to me alone for a minute, Jake left the room and with tears in his eyes Ty turned to me. "Gracie, I'm so sorry."

I tried to stop him, "No Ty, you did nothing wrong."

He wiped his eyes, "I shouldn't have freaked out, I should have let you explain. What if something would've actually happened?"

I looked him in the eyes and reached out to touch his arm, "But nothing did happen, everything is ok so let's just be thankful for that."

I saw him glance at the clock and cringe, "Oh shoot, are you sure you're ok? I have a meeting I have to go to but I can cancel it if you need me to stay."

"I promise I'm fine, don't cancel your meeting." He gave me a hug and I continued, "I do expect you to call me later though, I still have to fill you in on all the details."

"You got it Gracie, I'll send Jake back in." And with that he walked out of the room.

Ty's POV

I left Gracie's room and went to find Jake, I turned the corner to see him by the pop machines and I walked towards him. When Jake started working for me this past year I automatically liked him, he's a hard worker, a fast learner, and just generally a great guy.

When Gracie had come to stay with me for the summer she saw him and fell for him right away, I wasn't sure about the relationship at first but I quickly saw how he brought out the best in Gracie. He gave her a confidence and a joy that I had never seen her with before, and she seemed to make him equally as happy.

They were both miserable when they had to be separated and to be honest, I was always rooting for them to get back together. I was shocked when Gracie didn't come back to New York when she finally left our parents house, and just as equally shocked when Jake suddenly gave his 2 weeks notice at my company without a word as to were he was going.

I don't know why I was so upset when I found out today; I think I was more shocked than anything. Things were finally going right for Gracie and for a brief moment I thought he had messed it all up. But as I remembered all that had happened today I knew that whether she knew it or not, she was the happiest she had ever been. I knew I could trust Jake to take care of her and love her, and that's not a trust I give out easily.

I walked up to him, "I'm headed back home," He looked at me and I could tell the stress of the day was catching up to him, "And you make sure to take her home and get some rest, all three of you."

"I'll do that," Jake told me. I waved and started to walk away when he called out my name, "Ty, just so you know, I do love her. And I never want to hurt her."

I turned around, "Good let's keep it that way. Call me if you guys need anything."

I walked out of the hospital and for the first time I knew I didn't have to worry, she would be ok.

A/N: I forgot to mention this (it happened when I posted the last chapter) but this story is now over 10,000 words! That is quite an accomplishment for me! I also have the whole rest of the story planned out, it'll still be a little while before it's finished though. We are about half way through it now, and if enough people want it I will continue with a sequel. This chapter was also a milestone in the story, it was the first time I did someone else's POV! Look for more people's POVs in the coming chapters! Thanks for reading! And if you enjoyed the story, please review and let me know. If you didn't enjoy the story, please review and let me know why.


	9. A Story Behind Everything

For what seemed like the millionth time this week I was stuck in bed. Ever since that day Jake had been extremely protective and any moment I wasn't working he wanted me resting, it's annoying but kind of cute. I fought him a lot and sometimes won, but not today. He was moving into his apartment today and he didn't want me lifting and moving stuff. I tried to tell him that I would just supervise, but that wasn't good enough, so in order to get me to stay at home resting he got Lorelai to come over while Luke helped him move.

We had been hanging out for awhile now, and had been chatting for most of the time. Lorelai had been helping me decide how to decorate the baby's room, we had decided to put the baby in the bedroom and me out in the main room, we figured it would be easier that way I didn't have to worry about the TV or some other noise waking it.

After we had discussed just about every decorating possibility the subject had turned towards names, which seemed to unfortunately trigger something in Lorelai's memory.

"What's your name?"

I gave her a funny look, "Grace," I laughed, "Did you forget or something?"

"No it's just that when you were in the hospital they said Eleanor Bennett, not Grace Bennett."

Shoot, I thought to myself, "Uh yeah, Eleanor is my first name, Grace is my middle name."

Lorelai seemed intrigued by this, "Wow, really? How come I never knew that? I'm your employer you'd think I would've realized."

I shrugged it off, "It's just not something I ever really talk about."

"Do you not like it?"

"The name is ok, I just don't really like where it came from. Stupid family stuff." In normal circumstances I would've tried to evade the question, but I had known Lorelai long enough to know that it wouldn't work with her.

"Ah, that's my area of expertise, spill please," She sat waiting for me to talk.

I tried to seem like it really didn't matter to me, "Well it's just that in my family it's really important who you are named after."

I paused and she nodded her head for me to continue. "Ok for example, my brother is named after my mom's dad, Tyler, and my dad's dad, Mitchell. My sister-"

"The witchy with a b one?"

I laughed, "That's her. She's named after my dad's mom, Alyssa, and my mom's mom, Rose. Of course by the time I was around they were out of grandparents."

"So who were you named after?"

"That's where probably the only good thing my parents think I have done for them comes in. They had a very rich aunt who was dying, she had no children and it was unclear who the big inheritance was going to. My parents hated this woman, but of course, they love money so long story short in order to get the inheritance they named me after her."

"Wow, those are quite some parents you have there. So where did Grace come from?"

"Well Grace came from a dead dog." I couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous it all sounded.

"What!"

"Alyssa had this dog that she named Grace, she loved this dog, but one day a maid left the door open and Grace ran out in the street and was hit by car. Alyssa was so upset that my parents used that as my middle name just to calm her down."

"And I thought the Gilmore's were bad." Lorelai seemed totally disgusted, "How do you know all this?"

"Oh my parents told me, all the time, especially about the aunt they hated part, and they really loved the dead dog part too. It was Ty who told me that Alyssa actually loved the dog, they always left that part out."

"I guess I can't blame you for hating your name."

"I always especially hated Eleanor, the way my mother would say it would make me sick. Ty was the one who started calling me Grace, he said it suited me better and at least the story behind it was a little better."

"He calls you Gracie now doesn't he?"

"Yeah, once I decided to have everyone call me Grace he said he needed another special nickname for me, so Gracie is reserved for only him."

"He sounds like a good big brother."

I smiled, "The best." My phone started ringing so I reached over to answer it.

"Funny, I was just talking about you."

"_All good things I hope."_

I laughed, "I guess you'll never know. So what's up?"

"_I have some news, are you sitting down?"_

Even though he couldn't see it I rolled my eyes, "Of course, Jake won't let me do anything but sit."

"_He's a good man and he's right, you need your rest." _

I smiled to myself, it meant everything to me that Ty approved of Jake, "So what's your news?"

"_Gracie, aunt Joan died."_

"What! When? What happened?" Lorelai shot me a concerned look.

"_Calm down Gracie, you can't get yourself all excited. She had a stroke, but happened early this week, but mom just called and told me. The funeral is tomorrow night and she wants us both to be there."_

"Both?"

"_She said it would reflect badly on her and dad if we didn't make an appearance, but if you don't think you're up to going then don't."_

"I'm fine Ty, and I want to go."

"_The funeral is tomorrow in Hartford so how about I just come pick you up?"_

"Sounds good, I guess. See you tomorrow."

I looked up at Lorelai, "My aunt died, and not just some rich snobby aunt. She was actually pretty cool."

"Oh, hun," she gave me a hug.

"The funerals tomorrow and I'm going I guess," I wiped away some tears, "I'm going and that means I have to see my parents."

A/N: Not an extremely long chapter (in fact I think it was the shortest one yet), but it needed to happen and I had nothing to add to it. So there you go! I promise the next chapter will be up soon! Please review, and thanks for reading!


	10. Being a Bennett

It was the day of the funeral; I was desperately trying to find something to wear. I had left most of my nicer clothes at my parent's and the ones I had brought were no longer fitting right. I finally gave up and just grabbed a black dress, when I first got it; it had been loose, now it was very tight around my stomach. Oh well, I thought, I have nothing better. I grabbed a black sweater to wear over it, hoping it would hide my stomach.

I heard someone walk in the door, I never bothered to lock it when I was home, I had my own security system downstairs named Luke.

"I'm in here!" I yelled, I poked my head out the door to see that it was Jake.

He came up behind me and put his hands around my waist, "It's not going to be a secret much longer, is it?"

I turned around to face him, and he kept his arms around me, "Is it really noticeable?"

"Not to most people, I just know what to look for," I breathed a sigh of relief and he leaned down to kiss me, "You're cute when you're worried."

I wrapped my arms around him to hold him in a hug, "Yeah well we'll see how cute it is when my parents notice."

He pulled me back at arms length and looked at me seriously, "Are you sure you're up to going?"

"I'm sure."

"And you're sure you don't need me to go with?"

"I'm sure Jake, I'll have Ty there to protect me and if you came my parents would just freak out at you. It wouldn't matter that a funeral was going on."

He pulled me back into a tight hug, "I know, I just want to make sure you're ok."

"I'm a big girl, I'll be fine. Now you need to be a big boy and go to work," I gave him a kiss, "I'll call you when I get back."

"Ok, I'm going," he gave me another quick kiss then left.

Not long after that Ty came to pick me up, we ended up getting to the funeral late so we snuck into the back and sat there. For the first time in over 6 weeks I saw my family, they were all sitting in the front row my parents, my sister Alyssa, her husband Matthew and their two kids Jimmy and Carrie. The funeral was wonderful, it showed just how great a woman Joan was.

After the funeral there was a dinner planned at my parent's house, and of course we were expected to come. We walked in the door and nobody seemed to notice, there were people everywhere. I had started to think of ways to avoid my parents all night when I felt a little tug on my skirt, I looked down to see my niece Carrie. I knelt down so I was eye level with her, "Hi Carrie."

"Hi Aunt Eleanor," she said in her little 3-year-old voice.

I was about to say more when Matthew walked up, "Sorry she got away from me."

I stood up and straightened my skirt, "It's ok, she wasn't causing any problems."

Matthew grabbed Carrie's hand and started to walk away, "Good to see you here," he said before walked away.

"Yeah, great to be here," I said to no one in particular. Already I was grumpy and we had just gotten here.

"Come on Gracie, let's get some food, that'll be good at least." I started to follow him; we had walked no more than 5 feet when we heard a voice behind us.

"Tyler. Eleanor."

We slowly turned around, "Hi Mom."

"Have you forgotten all your manners? You come late to the funeral then you don't even come greet the hostess before heading to the food."

"I'm sorry Mom, it was my fault Gracie was ready to go but I got to talking, you know how it goes."

"Tyler it's very noble to try and cover for Eleanor, I'm sure it wasn't your fault." She looked at me up and down, "And it seems it was her idea to get to the food, it looks like she has been enjoying lots of it lately."

I pulled my sweater tighter around me, "Great to see you too mom," I mumbled under my breath.

She shot me a glare before looking back at Ty, "Tyler there are some people here you need to meet, come along."

Ty shot a helpless glance in my direction and I mouthed, "I'll be fine," to him. I decided that after my mother's last comment to me I had better wait to get some food, I saw Alyssa and quickly turned a corner before she could see me and I nearly ran into someone.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." I said to the lady, she looked familiar, I'm sure I was supposed to remember her name. My mother would be horrified if she knew I couldn't.

"That's quite alright," She paused, "Oh my, Eleanor?"

Shoot I was supposed to know her name. "That's me."

"You're looking well, we haven't seen you around much lately."

"Oh yeah, I've just been really busy. How is your," I took a wild guess, "daughter doing?"

Her face lit up in a smile; "She's doing wonderfully, thank you for asking, she owns an inn now."

"How wonderful, make sure to tell her I said hello." She said she would and I turned the corner again hoping to avoid more awkward conversations with her, I really had no idea who she was. Unfortunately it seemed there was an awkward conversation around every corner. I tried to dodge many of them, including Alyssa's I had left as soon as she started talking, she was scolding me for something and I just didn't want to hear it.

I sat down on a couch that was pushed towards a corner and closed my eyes, when yet another voice called out my name.

"Eleanor?"

Without evening opening my eyes I answered, "It's Grace dad, I want to be called Grace."

He sat down beside me; "Your given name is Eleanor, named after your-"

"I know the story dad, I don't need to hear it again."

"Very well, have you greeted the guests?"

Still with my eyes closed I answered him, "Yes dad."

He stood up, "Good then you can go." I opened my eyes to watch him walk away. Yep, that's my father. I looked around the room to see Ty being dragged by my mother from person to person, no doubt she was bragging about him to every person she saw.

I turned the other way when I heard somebody call, "Emily Gilmore!" Gilmore? I saw the lady I had run into earlier turn and greet the person. I started to put everything together in my mind, her last name is Gilmore and her daughter runs an inn? What are the chances? I decided to try and listen to their conversation.

There was lots of noise in the room so it was hard to make out the words, but I think I heard the words Lorelai and Rory. Emily's husband came over and joined the conversation, I think he just said Rory too, he started to pull a picture out of his wallet and I knew this was my chance. I got up and quickly walked by and glanced at the picture. It was Rory.

I got a drink and sat back down where I could watch them. Those were Lorelai's parents? They didn't seem that bad, then again neither did my parents. I had actually heard my mother telling someone all the wonderful things I had been doing, even though none of them were true and I hadn't talked to her in over a month. After watching Emily for awhile I decided that she kind of reminded me of Lorelai and I wondered if Lorelai would kill me for thinking that. I was so deep in thought that I almost didn't notice Ty sitting down next to me.

"What's on your mind there Gracie?"

I nodded my head towards Richard and Emily, "Do you know who those people are?"

He thought for a moment, "Um, I met them earlier tonight… they are the um, Gil- Gilmore's?"

"Have you ever seen their daughter?"

"Not really, she's never at any of the functions." He looked back at me, "Why are you asking me? You would know as well as I do."

"I think those are Lorelai's parents."

He stopped, "Yeah, that's right their daughters name is Lorelai. I think mom mentioned that Joan was in the DAR with Emily."

I just looked at him and shook my head, "This is too weird."

We were getting up and getting ready to go when my mother pulled me into a room, "What are you still doing here?"

I wasn't in the mood to take any of her crap, "Oh I'm sorry, was I just supposed to greet guests and leave? I was under the impression I was a guest at my aunts funeral."

"Do not take that tone with me, your father told you a long time ago to leave."

I just stopped and looked at her, she had to be kidding, but she wasn't. She kept yelling and I kept getting angrier I was getting dizzy again, the door opened and Ty walked in. "I was wondering where you went."

"Ty," I called weakly, he ran over and caught me before I fell and set me on a couch.

My mother just looked at me, "You are so dramatic." I tried to block her voice out and concentrate on calming myself, but I felt sick. I looked for a trashcan but I didn't make it and I threw up all over the floor and the couch I was sitting on. I couldn't tell what she was saying, but whatever it was Ty finally had enough of it. He started yelling loudly, but she just yelled back. I covered my ears and tried not to listen, I didn't want to hear what she was saying about me. Finally Ty stopped yelling, but she continued, he came over the couch and helped me up and we walked out of the room. We didn't stop walking, even with everyone turning and asking if I was ok, we kept going and didn't stop until Ty had me in the car.

We were almost home and Ty had been silent the whole time, I was partially grateful because my head was hurting again, but I was curious as to exactly what had happened. I tried asking him, but he didn't answer. After a moment he finally spoke, "I told her Gracie."

Still with my head leaned back on the headrest I turned towards him, "Told her what?"

"That you're pregnant."

I sat up quickly, "What!"

"I'm sorry, it just slipped out. She was just saying all these horrible things and I was just so angry." He was clenching the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were turning white.

I place a hand on his arm, "It's ok, she would've found out eventually."

He started laughing, "You know in the middle of all the yelling she actually tried telling me about some function we both were supposed to be at next week."

I had to laugh myself, "She really is nuts isn't she?"

"I'll say. I told her we wouldn't go, and that we wouldn't be coming to anything else either, that's when we left."

"How angry is she gonna be at you?"

"I don't know, most likely she'll just call and try and invite me again, now when I turn her down again that could break the running away to New York record." To beat the record was quite something, of course even that she turned around into something great that Ty did. In her eyes he could do no wrong, except help me out.

We got back to Luke's to find that it was already closed for the night and although I thought it was odd, I breathed a silent sigh of relief, I didn't want to have to explain to anyone why I had to be helped up the stairs. Ty got me into bed and then left but only with the promise that I was going to call Jake and he was going to come over and take care of me. I assured him that once Jake had heard I hadn't eaten yet he would be over within minutes, and he was.

A/N: Well there you go, those are the Bennett's. Pleasant people aren't they? Next chapter is Jake and Grace recovering from the evening when Lorelai calls with exciting news! Thanks for reading and please, please review!


	11. We're Engaged!

Just as I had promised Ty as soon as I had told Jake that I hadn't eaten yet he had come over with food. Apparently Ty didn't trust me to tell him about the dizziness returning because he had called Jake himself to tell him, which meant Jake really wasn't going to let me do anything. Great.

We sat cuddled up on the bed; Jake was sitting up with his back against the headboard I was leaning up against him. I told him the only way I would stay in bed was if he stayed with me; it was hard to get him to comply. After basically force feeding me all the healthy food I could handle we sat in a comfortable silence.

Jake had his hands over my stomach, gently rubbing it; I was comfortable, more comfortable than I had been in a long time. It was quickly interrupted by the phone ringing, I groaned.

Jake reached over and grabbed the phone off of the end table, I took it from him and checked the caller ID, it was Lorelai. "Hey Lorelai."

"_I just had a very interesting conversation with my mother about what happened to the youngest Bennett girl at the funeral. Oh and also, how do you know my parents?"_ She said in her typical Lorelai way.

"Um yeah, funny story. Apparently our parents know each other, and my aunt was in the DAR with your mom."

"_Wow, it's a small world after all. So what happened, are you ok?" _

"Yeah I'm fine, it was just my mother she had a minor freak out which caused me to have a minor freak out."

"_Why did she freak out?"_

"They were just tired of having me around I guess. Then when I started to get dizzy and sick again she started freaking out more which caused Ty to freak out at her, and that's when he slipped and announced that I'm pregnant."

"_I take it that caused another freak out?"_

"I can see where Rory gets her brains from."

"_Ah yes, many have wondered, but you have discovered the truth. But you are ok right?"_

"Yes, yes I'm fine. Jake's here and he wouldn't even let me reach for the phone, I'll be fine."

"_Would he be mad if I got you all excited and made you want to jump around?"_

"Probably, but it would make things more interesting so go ahead."

"_Ok good, cause I have big news. Luke proposed!"_

I was confused, "Was that supposed to shock me? Cause you guys have been engaged for a while now."

"_You didn't let me finish, Luke proposed again, or I guess he proposed for the first time, and we are getting married next week!"_

I jumped out of the bed, "No way! That's awesome! Tell me everything."

"_Well I went to Luke's to get dinner only to find it totally closed down,"_

"Odd."

"_That's what I thought, so I went in to see what was going on, the lights were all off but there were candles set out."_

"Wow, Luke put out candles?"

"_Luke put out lots of candles. So as I was looking around the room he came out from the back and handed me a cup of coffee, and of course he told me that I shouldn't drink it because it would kill me."_

"Very romantic."

"_Oh trust me, it gets there. He brings me over to the counter where there are all these wedding magazines spread out, and in the middle was a notebook that was filled with all the plans for our wedding."_

"Aw, Luke planned it all?" Jake made me sit back down.

"_He had it all planned. After I saw those he took the ring off my finger and got down on one knee and told me he knew it had been hard for us to set a date and things had gotten in the way but that he couldn't wait any longer for me to be his wife."_

"That is probably the cutest thing I have ever heard! Where and when is it going to be?"

"_Friday evening at 5 in the town square. It's not going to be anything fancy or huge and we would've just eloped but my mother would have flipped and we wanted all of our friends to be there. And apparently there is even a surprise honeymoon planned."_

"Wow, where are you guys going?"

"_I don't know," _I could almost hear her pouting, _"Luke won't tell me." _

I could hear Luke yelling in the background, _"You'll find out soon enough!"_

I laughed, "Is there anything you need help with?"

"_I think it's all taken care of, but there was one thing I was wondering if you and Jake could help with, you don't have to but it might be good practice."_

"What is it?"

"_We asked both Sookie and Jackson to be in the wedding and we wanted Davey to be the ring bearer and Martha to be the flower girl. The problem is there's no one to watch Davey and Martha during the ceremony, and I know it's not an incredibly big role in the wedding but it would mean a lot to us."_

"Sure we'll do it."

"_You don't need to check with Jake?"_

"Nah, he'll do it," I told Lorelai.

Jake looked at me, "I'll do what?"

I ignored him and continued talking to Lorelai, "I know he will because if he doesn't I'll be standing up and pacing the floor the whole time." As I joked, I looked right at Jake.

"_Great! The plan is to have them do the whole walking down the aisle thing, or in Martha's case be carried down the aisle, then you can grab them. It should be easy, simple, unless they start screaming."_

"Ah yes, won't that be fun! I should get going, I need to let you and Luke get back to your celebrating."

"_Bye hun."_

Jake looked at me, "So now are you going to fill me in on what you signed me up for?"

"If you go get me a drink I will," He got my drink and sat next to me on the couch.

I turned so I was leaning against the arm of the couch and put my legs over his lap. "Luke and Lorelai are getting married next week and they want us to watch Davey and Martha during the ceremony."

"Aren't they like, little kids?"

I laughed at his expression, "Yes, that's why they need watching, it won't be for long." Jake still looked unsure, "Honey I promise you'll be fine, it's just holding them and keeping them semi-entertained. Besides, it'll be good practice."

He agreed, but he still didn't seem sure. We sat there talking and relaxing until I realized I was starting to fall asleep, "Ok, it's time for me to get to bed, it has been a very long day and I have to work tomorrow."

Jake helped me up from the couch, "I'll get going then, just promise that you won't be running around the block or something."

I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a kiss, "I promise, I have no plans to ever run around the block."

Once Jake left and I was getting into bed I thought back on the day, so much had happened; the funeral, another dizzy spell, my mother freaking out, Luke and Lorelai getting married. Life in Stars Hollow was never dull.

A/N: A little bit of a filler chpater, but again, it needed to happen. The next chapter will be Luke and Lorelai's wedding! Thanks for reading and please review!


	12. It's About Time!

The long awaited day had finally come and the town was buzzing with excitement. The whole town had shown up to help get everything ready. The Town Square was beautifully decorated, and the weather was perfect. We had been worried about having an outdoor wedding in the middle of October, but it was a beautiful fall day.

My apartment had been taken over by all the girls that needed to get ready, it had been decided that they would use my apartment to get ready since it was closest to the town square and all the men were getting ready at the house.

While everyone was getting ready I had volunteered to supervise the setting up and decorating. I almost had to fight Kirk for the job, until I told him that pregnant women's hormones caused them to be freakishly strong. It was a lie, but Kirk backed down.

Looking around I realized everything was finally ready. Lorelai, who was never one to clash with the décor, had chosen to use a dark red for her wedding color so it would match with the leaves. It worked perfectly, the leaves were all still brightly colored, making decorating a little bit easier. My phone started to ring so I answered it; it was Sookie asking me to bring Martha over so they could get her ready. Martha and Davey were both at the house with the guys so I picked her up and went back to my apartment.

I walked up the stairs and was almost suffocated by hairspray; someone had gone a little crazy with it. I heard laughing as I walked through the door and saw both Rory and Sookie working on Lorelai's hair and makeup.

"Hey!" I said, announcing myself to the room.

Lorelai tried to turn around, but Rory and Sookie stopped and she dramatically proclaimed, "Help! I'm surrounded!"

I laughed and walked over to where she could see me. "I've come to deliver the flower girl." I announced.

Sookie stopped for a moment to greet Martha, then looked up at me, "Her dress is over there, would you mind getting her dressed?" She asked brightly.

"Um, sure," I replied and I grabbed the dress and went to change her.

Lorelai wiggled around in her chair, Sookie giggled, "Lorelai stop wiggling!"

"But I'm bored!"

"You know mom, we would've been done by now if you could just sit still." Rory said, all while trying to put another bobby pin into Lorelai's hair.

Finally they finished and Lorelai went into the bedroom to get changed. As I went to put Martha's dress on I realized they finished at just the right time, "Uh Sookie, we've got a code very brown over here and I don't think that falls in my job description."

"We're done anyway, so I've got it all from here. Thanks Grace."

I started to reply, but stopped as Lorelai walked out of the bedroom. She looked gorgeous; her dress was simple, but beautiful. It was all white with thin spaghetti straps and came down to her knees in lots of layers and clung tightly to her body, the bottom half had a sequin pattern on it. She had insisted on making it herself, her mom had tried to convince her otherwise, but Lorelai said that this was one dress that she wanted to do herself. Sookie and Rory had done a great job with her hair it was curled more than her usual curly, and held back by a silver sparkly headband.

Rory's POV

I looked at my mom, and she looked perfect. The dress, the hair, the makeup all helped, but it was something else. She was happy, Luke made her happy. It had never been like this with Max, with Max every part of the wedding planning was a chore, just something to get done, but this wedding was different. She was excited and wanted to take her time with everything, wanting everything to be perfect.

She looked at all our shocked looks and asked, "What is there something on my face?"

I ran over and hugged her, "You look perfect mom."

She hugged me back, "Thanks kid."

After looking at the time we realized it was almost time for us to head down, the ceremony would be starting soon. We went down to the diner where Grandpa was coming in with Jackson and Davey to get mom. A proud look came on his face as he announced they were ready to start. Grace gave Lorelai a hug and went out to get her seat. We were walking out from the diner so we all got into our line. I went over and got Martha from Sookie, since I was mom's maid of honor I was going first and I was carrying Martha because Jess was already standing with Luke.

When the music started I started walking down the aisle, everyone turned to look. I think the whole town had shown up for the wedding and a million flashes started going off as they all were taking pictures. I took my place at the altar smiling at Luke as I did. He looked just as happy as mom and he seemed excited.

Sookie and Jackson followed after me with Davey right in front of them. As soon as Davey saw all the people he turned and ran back to his parents. Everyone laughed and Sookie and Jackson grabbed Davey's hand and walked with him in between them.

Lorelai's POV

As I began to walk down the aisle with my dad, I couldn't help but think that everything was perfect. I had been so afraid that something bad would happen, it's just how things go for me. Except with Luke, sure we went through a bad patch for awhile but things were different now. I looked at all the faces of the people who had come to my wedding, I was glad they all came, even Kirk. My mother had tried to get me to have the wedding someplace else, but I knew it needed to be here in the Town Square with the town who had watched both Rory and I grow up. The town I finally found myself in, they were the ones I wanted to watch me get married to the guy I finally found myself in.

I looked up at Luke, he was looking at me and smiling and I think he may have had tears in his eyes. For that moment on my eyes were focused on only him, every step I took was just another step to get me closer to him. If it wasn't for my father walking beside me I probably would've ran up there. After what seemed like an eternity, I finally reached him.

Luke's POV

I watched Lorelai walk down the aisle and my heart nearly stopped, she looked gorgeous. There was just something radiant about her, glowing even like hopefully she would be one day when… Ok, Luke you're getting ahead of yourself, let's just focus on the wedding now. It wasn't hard to focus on her, in fact I think it would've been harder to look away I couldn't help but stare.

She finally reached me and I took her hands in mine. I leaned in close and whispered, "You look amazing." She got an excited look on her face and responded with, "And I didn't even trip!"

We shared a laugh and the ceremony started. Everything went perfectly, although to tell you the truth I don't remember the specifics. Everything went by so fast and before I knew it I heard the words I had been dying to hear since I met her, "I now pronounce you man and wife, you may kiss the bride."

I leaned in and gave her a long kiss, which resulted in various hoots and hollers from the crowd. Right before I pulled away I whispered, "I love you Mrs. Danes." To which she replied with, "It's about time I heard you say that, Mr. Danes."

Grace's POV

I watched as Luke and Lorelai were finally married, I hadn't known them that long, but it was easy to see that they belonged together. They announced Mr. and Mrs. Danes and everyone stood and cheered, the reception was being held on the other side of the gazebo so everyone headed in that direction. I was still holding Martha who had been sleeping like an angel through the whole ceremony, well that is until the cheering started. She had woken up and started to cry so I moved her so that she had her head against me shoulder.

Jake stood up, he was holding Davey who had taken quite the liking to Jake, "Are you ok with her?"

I smiled at him, "I'm fine, now let's go find the happy couple!"

Jake put his hand on the small of my back to lead me over to the reception, but before we could get there a voice stopped us, "Grace?"

I remembered the awkward conversation I had at the funeral, "Hi Mrs. Gilmore. It's so good to see you." I said, smiling fakely.

She didn't seem to know what to make of the situation, she looked at me holding Martha, then at Jake and Davey, then back at me, "I certainly didn't except to see you here, I didn't realize you knew Luke or Lorelai."

"Yeah, I'm friends with both of them, and I work for Lorelai." I knew as soon as I said that that it was not going to end well for me.

"Oh? I don't remember your mother mentioning that."

Gee I wonder why, I thought to myself, "Well it's kind of a new thing, so maybe she just hasn't gotten around to it yet." Martha started whimpering in my arms, "We better get Martha and Davey over to Sookie. See you later Mrs. Gilmore."

As we headed over to the reception I groaned, "That is going to be all over the rich snooty groups in Hartford and my mother is going to freak out."

Jake gave me a funny look, "How do you know?"

"Years of experience." We found Sookie and Jackson and handed them their kids, as we were looking for a place to sit I saw Rory with a strange guy. There were two extra seats at their table so we headed over, "Do you mind if we sit?" I asked and pointed at the empty seats.

"Go ahead," Rory said, "Jake, Grace this is Marty, Marty this is Jake and Grace." Rory said, making the introductions.

The name sounded familiar, "Marty? The naked guy?"

Marty gave Rory a look, "That's another 5."

Rory groaned and pulled out her purse, "Every time someone recognizes him as 'The Naked Guy' I have to give him 5 bucks. Apparently I told the story to a few too many people."

Lorelai and Luke walked hand in hand over to our table, "Hey guys, hey Marty! Glad you could make it."

Luke stopped and looked at Marty, "Marty is that the N-"

"Luke please don't finish that sentence!" Rory yelled, "I'm all out of cash!"

Luke gave Rory a strange look and was about to say something when it was announced that it was time for the first dance. A familiar song started playing and Lorelai turned to Luke, "Luke what is this?"

"This is the song we danced to at Liz and T.J's wedding, the very first song we ever danced to." All of the girls awed at this and someone mentioned that Luke was a big softy and for once he didn't disagree.

We all watched as they danced until they announced that they wanted other couples to join them. Rory and Marty stood to join them on the dance floor and Jake stood up and reached for my hand, "May I have this dance?" I giggled at him and accepted the offer.

We stepped out onto the dance floor and began to dance, I watched the other couples everyone was so happy it had been the perfect day.

A/N: Luke and Lorelai are finally married! Hopefully I did it justice, this was the hardest chapter to write so far. Next chapter will be Grace's birthday and Lorelai and Rory have planned quite a day! Please review and let me know what you thought! Thanks!


	13. Happy Birthday Grace!

Disclaimer: I haven't said it in awhile, but just so you know, I still don't own Gilmore Girls.

Three weeks after the wedding I walked down into the diner to get some breakfast and saw a very tan Lorelai sitting at the counter drinking coffee and talking to Luke.

"Lorelai! You're back!" I ran over to her and gave her a big hug.

Luke looked at me, "Gee, Grace it's good to see you too."

I turned towards Luke; "I was getting there. Hey Luke, good to see you! There is that better?" Without waiting for an answer I turned back to Lorelai, "So how was it, where did you go?" The last time I had seen Lorelai, Luke still hadn't told her where they were going for their honeymoon.

"It was amazing! We went to Cancun spent some time on the beach, shopping, and lots of time doing you know what."

"Ah jeez," Luke said and walked away.

"I'm with him, that was a little bit too much information."

"Like you didn't know what we would be doing."

"Ok, new topic."

After I said that Lorelai looked at my stomach, "Wow, you've gotten big while I was gone."

"Well gee, thanks. That'll really help a girl's self esteem."

Lorelai gave me a look; "You know what I meant."

I sat down on the stool next to her, "That's what happens when you leave me here for months."

"It wasn't months, it was weeks we left October 21st and got back November 10th which was late last night."

As soon as she said that a thought struck me, "Huh, so if it was November 10th last night, that means that it's November 11th today?"

Lorelai gave me a look that clearly said she thought I was crazy. "That is normally how it works."

"So that means tomorrow is the 12th. Huh, I can't believe I forgot."

"Forgot what?"

I gave a little laugh, "It's my birthday tomorrow."

Lorelai got very excited, "Really! We should have the hugest party!"

I looked at Lorelai; she looked like a kid in a candy shop. No, I take that back, she looked like a kid who was just told they could live in a candy shop. "A party? I guess, I mean I've never really had one before."

Lorelai nearly fell off her seat in shock; "You've never had a party?" I shook my head no, and Lorelai stood up from her chair, "Well my friend, you are getting a party, the most awesome party ever. Tell Luke I had to go, I've got to call Rory we've got some major planning to do."

She walked out of the diner as Luke came back over, "Where'd she go?"

I shook my head, "I'm not sure."

I heard the phone ringing and I turned over to look at the clock, 5:00am, who in the world was calling me at 5:00am? I answered the phone, still sounding very much asleep, "Hello?"

"_Good morning birthday girl!"_

"Lorelai? Do you realize what time it is?"

"_Of course I do! It's 5 and time to start your birthday day! See normally we would do a birthday week, but since we didn't have a week we have to compact it into one day. So here's how it's going to work, every hour on the hour for 19 hours you will receive a gift. The first can be found right outside your door. Oh and I would be dressed decently for the 6:00am gift."_

She hung up the phone and I got out of bed, why did I think it was a good idea to tell her when my birthday was? I opened the door to find a large wrapped package; I opened it to find a picture frame with lots of pictures from Luke and Lorelai's wedding. I loved it, I had mentioned several times that I wanted more pictures of everyone. But I knew that in less than an hour I would be woken up again, so I headed back to bed.

**6:00am**

I head a loud knocking at the door; I grabbed a robe and went to answer it.

I opened the door to find Luke standing there, "Hey, sorry. I didn't want to wake you but Lorelai said I had to and you know how she can be." I nodded to try and stop Luke's rambling. "Well anyway, I just was supposed to come deliver your gift so here you go."

He handed me two large grocery bags, "Heavy." I said.

"Oh sorry," He took them and set them on the counter.

I went over and looked in the bags, "What is it?"

"It's the kind of juice you always order in the diner, you mentioned the other day how you wanted to buy some, but you couldn't find any so I got these for you."

I couldn't believe he had actually remembered, I had only casually mentioned it once, "Thanks Luke, it's a great gift."

He gave me a somewhat awkward hug before going back downstairs, and I once again went back to sleep.

**7:00am**

My sleep didn't last long, as there was more knocking on the door. I answered the door again; "Your mother is cruel."

Rory smiled at me; "Actually this was my idea."

I looked at her, "Well then if it wasn't for the fact that you have a present for me, I would so not let you in."

Rory came in and gave me a medium sized gift bag; I opened it and saw the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory DVD. "When we tried to watch it last time you said you had never seen it, and since you didn't get to finish it I thought you might like the chance to. Do you like it?"

I smiled, "I love it. You know, besides the whole getting woken up at all hours in the morning thing, this day has been pretty great already."

"And it only gets better, I'd be ready to go for your 8:00am surprise."

After Rory left I decided there was no point in going back to sleep and I got in the shower then started getting ready.

**8:00am**

I was still in the bathroom getting ready at a little after 8 and I still hadn't heard anything. I walked out of the bathroom to see if I had missed a phone call or something when I saw my 8:00am surprise. Jake was sitting at the table with a full breakfast out in front of him. "It's about time, the food was starting to get cold."

I looked around the room, no takeout bags, "Did you cook this yourself?"

He stood up to help me get seated, "That I did."

"Wow, my man has so many hidden talents! You are going to be cooking for me all the time!" It was an amazing breakfast, the food was fabulous and of course the company was great. At about 8:45 Jake told me to get my stuff because it was time to go.

"Go where?" I questioned him.

He gave me a look that told me I should know the answer, "Oh yeah! Work! Yikes, we need to hurry!"

**9:00am**

I walked into the Dragonfly and saw Lorelai waiting for me. She gave me a big hug, "Happy Birthday!" She lead me over to the desk, "Now you should know that I left Michel in charge of the 9am surprise, and his gift to you is that he's not coming in until 10!"

"Wow! A whole hour without Michel? That tops everything I've gotten so far!"

**10:00am**

At exactly 10 Sookie came hurrying out of the kitchen, "You got 10 Sookie?"

Sookie laughed and handed me a large brown envelope, "Not exactly, Davey was actually the one who had 10."

I was curious so I quickly opened the envelope and pulled out several drawings. Although I couldn't tell what a lot of the pictures were Sookie pointed out that they were all of me and him, "You and Jake are the only thing he's talked about since the wedding, he and Martha both really loved you guys."

I smiled and gave her a big hug, "Thanks Sookie! And tell Davey thanks for me." Sookie said she would and then quickly yelled something about needing to check on the bread as she ran into the kitchen. I laughed and headed back to work, wondering what 11 had in store for me.

**11:00am**

At 11 Lorelai walked in, handed me a note then quickly left the room. I opened up the note and read it.

_Dear Grace,_

_I know that you always wanted a chance to ride me, but when you find out you were pregnant you decided you couldn't until the baby was born. (I realize this may be partially my fault scaring you that one time at the desk). But I wanted to let you know that once you have your baby me and Desdemona are yours for the day for you and one guest of your choosing (you know like Jake or that pretty Inn owner)._

_Love your friend, Cletus_

I laughed; Lorelai would give me a note from a horse. The hour seemed to drag by, finally at about 11:50the phone rang.

Michel looked at me; "It's your turn to answer that."

I didn't feel like arguing with him so I answered the phone, "Dragonfly inn, this is Grace."

"_Hello, I need to speak to an Eleanor Bennett."_

I cringed at the voice, "It's me mom, you know that."

"_If you would use your given name I wouldn't have to wonder."_

This was the last thing I wanted to happen today, "What do you need mom."

"_I wanted to know why you feel the need to humiliate me."_

"You mean just in general or-"

She did not appreciate my sarcasm, _"Do not get smart with me young lady, you know what I'm talking about. Letting Emily Gilmore know that you work in an inn and aren't living at home. It was awful they knew I had been lying to them about where you were."_

"Maybe you shouldn't have lied to them, I mean is it really so horrible that I'm not living at home, that I have a job and am making a life for myself? It's what Ty did after all."

"_Do not bring Tyler into this! You are both very different people, and that was a very different situation."_

I rolled my eyes, even though she couldn't see me, "No mom, we are very similar people and that was one very similar situation."

I could hear the disgust in her voice; _"I do not want to hear anymore of your excuses. I need you to come to a dinner on Friday so you can straighten everything out."_

I couldn't believe what she was saying, me straighten things out? "No."

"_Excuse me. You will be there."_

"No mom I won't. I have nothing to straighten out; I wasn't the one who lied. I wasn't the one who couldn't accept that her daughter is doing very on her own. I'm not the one who hasn't even called her daughter to see how she was doing. I wasn't the one to do all those things, those were all your decisions so if you want something done about them you fix them." I slammed down the phone.

**12:00pm**

I looked up and saw my 12:00pm surprise coming through the door, "Ty, perfect timing."

Ty came over, gave me a hug and told me Happy Birthday as Lorelai was coming into the room, "What's happening out here?"

I frowned I realized how loud I had been, "Sorry Lorelai, it was my mother calling and not to wish me a Happy Birthday."

Lorelai looked at Michel who was standing at the side of the desk farthest away from me, "What's up with you?"

Michel seemed almost frightened; "I've never seen her yell like that before."

Ty wrapped his arm around me, "You ok Gracie?"

"I'm fine, I feel good actually. And I don't think she'll be calling again anytime soon."

For my surprise that hour Ty treated me to lunch, we stayed at the Dragonfly because he didn't have long; he had meetings all day in Hartford. Way too soon he had to leave and I went back over to the desk.

**1:00pm**

As soon as I got there I saw a wrapped present lying on the desk. There was a note on the top.

_Gracie,_

_I know you didn't want any big gifts, but I'm tired of your cell phone battery dying every time we try to talk. Happy birthday and I love you!_

_Ty_

Inside was a new phone! And it was the one that I had told him I liked. Ok, so maybe I wasn't that surprised since there had been some less than subtle hinting, but it was still great!

**2:00pm**

I was anxiously awaiting my 2pm surprise, but it was already a little after 2 and nothing had happened. Michel was driving me bonkers so I decided to go into the kitchen to try and find Lorelai or Sookie. As soon as I walked through the door turned and the two of them stood together, trying to block whatever they were doing.

"What's going on?" I asked as I tried to peek around them.

"Hey, no peeking!" Lorelai said, "And what are you doing in the kitchen anyway?"

"Um, I come in here all the time. You know, when Michel starts making me crazy."

Just then Michel walked through the door, "Excuse me, but when did I become a delivery boy?" He handed me a vase full of flowers; "These just arrived for you."

I took them from Michel and thanked him, "What no tip? All of the other delivery boys get a tip." He pouted.

I rolled my eyes, "You want a tip Michel? Don't run with scissors. There you go!" He huffed and walked out of the room, I laughed it was just too easy.

I looked at the flowers; they were gorgeous Gerbera Daisies in a variety of colors. I pulled out the card, it simply said, "Happy Birthday! Jake."

I smiled; this was the best birthday ever!

**3:00pm**

After I got my flowers Sookie and Lorelai had shooed me out of the kitchen.

At exactly 3, Lorelai and Sookie came out of the kitchen, "Happy Birthday!" Sookie said and handed me a huge plate of cookies. I looked at my cookies, they were my favorites! Chocolate, chocolate chip with peanut butter chunks.

I took the cookies and was about to take a bite of one, "Thanks Sookie!" I stopped and thought back to kitchen, "Lorelai didn't help make these did she?"

Lorelai feigned hurt, "Hey!"

Sookie laughed, "No she wanted to, but I didn't let her. I just let her add some peanut butter chunks, I figured it'd be hard to mess that up."

I laughed and took a bite, they were amazing, not that I expected anything else from Sookie.

**4:00pm**

I looked up as I heard someone come in the door; it was Lane, "Hey Lane!"

"Hey Grace, Happy birthday!" She said and handed me a gift.

"So you're a part of this whole scheme too?" I asked as I opened it.

"Yep, you know how hard it is to say no to Lorelai, plus you need to be educated."

"Educated?" I asked, she nodded towards the gift, I unwrapped it to find several CDs bundled together.

"You have been deprived, so this is a great starter pack to learn about great rock."

I laughed, it was so very Lane. I noticed an unlabeled CD, "What's this?"

"That is Hep Alien's very first professional demo!"

"Wow, really! That's so cool! Thanks Lane!"

"Make sure to let me know what you think of it."

I told her I would and she left. I looked at the clock, 4:10, only 50 more minutes until my next surprise.

**5:00pm**

At a little before 5 I had run to the bathroom so I wouldn't miss whatever was coming next. Apparently I had taken too long though and when I returned to the front desk there was a bag sitting on it with my name on it.

I opened it and saw an outfit that I had seen the other day at the mall. This must've been from Rory; she was the one with me when I saw it. As I unfolded the clothes to get a better look at them, a note card fell from them.

_Happy Birthday Grace (again)!_

_You'll want to wear that tonight, I'll be back at 5:45 to pick you up and take you home so you can get ready._

_Love, Rory_

A little after 5:45 I heard Rory come in, "Hey Grace. Ready to go?" She asked.

"Yep," I replied and gathered up the various gifts I had gotten while I was at work.

We loaded everything into the car before Rory threw me something, "Put that on."

I looked down in my hands to see a black blindfold, "Are you kidnapping me?"

"No, just put it on, you'll understand later."

I knew I wasn't going to get any answers so I put on the blindfold and Rory helped me into the car. When we got to the diner Rory helped me out of the car and got me up to my apartment door. She took off my blindfold, "I'll see you later, and don't go anywhere!" She said before going back downstairs.

**6:00pm**

I opened my door at almost exactly 6, to find that everything had been decorated. There were handmade signs everywhere from everyone! There were also streamers and balloons everywhere! I even opened up the bathroom door to find that someone had made a balloon person who was sitting on the toilet, I'm assuming that one was done by Lorelai.

I went back out and noticed the room was dark besides those lamps that were on, I went over to the windows to find that they had all been covered by black paper. There were signs on the paper saying, "Do not look out the window!" But I was curious and I took the paper off anyway, only to find another sign that said, "Hey! I mean it!" I laughed and decided to leave it alone. Plus I needed to get ready for whatever big thing was coming next.

**7:00pm**

I heard someone knocking on the door, "Come in!" I yelled.

"Hello?" I heard Lorelai yell.

I came out of the bathroom, wearing my new outfit and brushing my hair, "Hi!"

She looked at me, "Were you just in the bathroom?"

"Yes." I answered, wondering what her point was.

"Was Wally done?" She asked seriously.

"Who's Wally?"

"Balloon man, duh." She said, as if I should have known.

"Oh of course, what was I thinking?"

"You ready to go?" She asked and pulled something out of her back pocket.

"Oh no, is that the blindfold again?"

"Yep, now come here." Once again I was blindfolded and led down the stairs. She led me out of the diner and across the street before she stopped and took off the blindfold. Right as she did I heard everyone yell, "Surprise!"

The whole Town Square was decorated, much like my apartment was, only down here it looked more like a carnival. There was food, games and even some inflatables.

Lorelai turned to me; "This is your birthday party to make up for all the missed parties." She started leading me around and pointing things out, "We have classic birthday party games like pin the tail on the donkey, egg and spoon race, ring toss, we have a few non-freaky clowns, a piñata, and an inflatable bounce house. I realize that you can't use it, but I thought it added a very festive feel to the party."

I looked around and noticed a large pile of gifts, "Whoa!"

Lorelai followed my gaze to the presents, "Those are all for you."

"From who?" I asked.

She motioned around the square, "Everyone, just about the whole town showed up, they really love you Grace."

We spent the next hour hanging out, playing games. I was crowned the great pin the tail on the donkey loser, as I accidentally pinned the tail on Kirk instead. I got to hit the piñata, and they didn't even make me put on the blindfold, probably because of the pin the tail donkey thing. I was having a great time.

**8:00pm**

Before I knew it, Luke was walking up to me with a gift.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Well it's 8, so it's time for your next surprise."

"I thought the rest of my surprise was my party?" I asked.

"Nope, you've got 3 more hours left still."

I opened my gift and stopped in shock when I saw what it was. "Luke, this is too much." I said softly.

He had given me a very expensive digital camera that doubled as a video camera, "Well you're gonna need it, I mean you'll have a kid and all. You're gonna want to take pictures and videos."

I gave him a big hug, "Thanks Luke! This is really awesome!"

I saw Lorelai coming over, "Ok, we are now heading into teenage party, complete with dancing, karaoke and make your own music video. Let's go!"

**9:00pm**

It was a little after 9 when Lorelai pulled me away from the party. She handed me a couple pictures and looked through them.

They were pictures of dollhouses, I looked up at her and she started to explain. "When I was little my parents gave me this really awesome dollhouse, except it was 'Just for looking at' and I always wanted one to play with. Now I'm guessing since our families are similar you either had one just like it, or knowing your parents, you didn't have one at all. So I found this really cool one and I thought, now you could finally have a dollhouse to play with, and if you have a girl you could pass it down to her too. It's already in your apartment, all set up for you. "

I was in awe, I loved it. "You're right, I didn't actually have a dollhouse like that but Alyssa did. I spent my whole childhood wishing and hoping for one of my own, but this is even better." I gave her a big hug, "Thanks Lorelai, you've made this the greatest birthday ever!"

**10:00pm**

I was startled when Kirk tapped me on the shoulder, I thought for a moment he was coming to get his revenge, but instead he handed me an envelope and walked away. I opened it to find a gift certificate for, '1 free night of babysitting from Kirk,' and another for, '1 free Scuba Diving lesson from Kirk.'"

I was laughing as Lorelai walked over, "Kirk was my 10 o'clock surprise?"

"Well he overheard us talking and we were getting desperate, you're just too old. If you were turning 18 this never would've happened."

I showed her the gift certificates; "It's a very cute idea, but scuba diving lessons?"

She laughed with me, "Who knows, it's Kirk."

**11:00pm**

I was beginning to get very, very tired. Which made sense since I had been woken up at 5 this morning and I normally was asleep by 10.

I started shivering right as Jake walked over to me and handed me a hat and some gloves, "Hey crazy, do you realize it's 11 o'clock at night in the middle of November and you don't even have a jacket on?"

I shrugged my shoulders; "I have a sweater on." I put on the hat and gloves, "Is this my 11 surprise?"

He laughed, "No I got those from your apartment earlier, but it is time for your surprise."

He led me over to a bench and we sat down, most everyone had gone home but a few people were still lingering around the party. He handed me a small jewelry box and I opened it. Inside was a silver chain bracelet with a toggle clasp and a silver heart tag. Engraved on the tag were the words, "I love you."

I stopped and stared at it, he had never said that to me before. He lifted my head so I was looking at him; "I mean it you know. I love you."

Tears came to my eyes and I couldn't seem to find the words, but they finally came, "I love you too!" We shared a long kiss until the remaining people at the party started to cheer.

We broke it off and started laughing; "This really was the best birthday ever!"

A/N: This was my favorite chapter so far! I hope you enjoyed it! Oh and last time I again missed it, but the story is now over 20,000 words! Also I want to give a big thank you to sarahb2007 who has been BETAing my story for me and gave me the dollhouse and gift certificate gift ideas! Thanks Sarah! If you enjoyed this chapter, please review and let me know!


	14. It's a ?

A month had passed since my birthday and I was now 19 weeks pregnant. I couldn't believe I was almost halfway there! I placed a hand on my stomach as I felt the baby kick, it had happened for the first time almost 2 weeks ago. It had been an amazing moment, Jake and I had been in my apartment watching a movie and talking. I had been feeling little flutters for awhile, but that was the moment we both got to feel it.

Today was a big day too; in about a half hour Jake and I were going to my doctor's appointment where we would be finding out the sex. The morning had been passing by way too slowly; I was trying to keep myself occupied when someone came up to the desk. "Excuse me, I have a complaint that I need to talk to the owner about."

I looked up and saw an older woman with short white hair, "I'm sorry ma'am, she is in a meeting right now, is there anything I can do for you?"

She seemed firm in her choice, "No I need to talk to the owner."

I continued to be polite, "Then can I offer you something to drink while you wait?"

"No thank you, I'm fine. I'll wait right here for her."

I wasn't quite sure what to do; we didn't get many complaints unless they were about Michel. True to her word the lady did not move, I glanced at a clock Lorelai's meeting was almost done and it was just with Michel about his weekly complaints. I decided I'd go ahead and interrupt it, Lorelai wouldn't mind, in fact she'd probably be happy for the distraction.

I knocked on her office door and she yelled for me to come in, "Lorelai, there's a woman out here who says she has a complaint to talk to you about. I tried to help her but she insisted she talk to you."

"Ok, thank you Grace. Tell her I'll be right out."

I relayed the message and was helping someone get checked out when I heard Lorelai enter the room and yell, "Mia!" I turned to see her running over to give the woman a hug.

Mia hugged her back then started with her complaint, "Now Lorelai, you have owned this inn for years now and you still haven't had me come and see it."

"I apologize, but since you are here now why don't I give you the grand tour."

"That would be great." She linked arms with Lorelai, quickly said hi to Michel then they were off.

I turned to Michel, "Who is that?"

"That is Mia, she was the owner of the Independence Inn."

That's cool, I thought to myself, I had heard a little about her from Lorelai and Rory and she sounds like a very neat lady.

I heard the door open and saw Jake walk in, "Hey, you ready?"

I smiled, "So ready! Just let me go grab my coat."

I got my coat and after what seemed like an eternity we finally arrived. We were seated in the waiting room waiting to be called, after what seemed like another eternity they finally called my name.

We went into the small room and I quickly got changed into the gown, and another eternity later the doctor finally came in and started the ultrasound. Jake grabbed my hand; he was just as excited. We had both decided we really didn't care what it was, as cheesy as it may sound, we only cared that it was healthy.

The little booger, or bug as Jake would say, wasn't being very cooperative at first. Finally the doctor got it to wiggle around enough that we got a clear look. "It's a girl!"

Tears came to my eyes, "A girl! Are you sure?"

The doctor looked again, and pointed out some parts, "I'm sure, it can be hard to tell for sure with girls, but I'm positive about this one." She looked back at us and smiled, "I'll leave you two alone for a moment."

I turned to Jake, "A girl Jake! We're going to have a little girl!"

He smiled and gave me a kiss, "A beautiful little girl."

After another moment the doctor came back in and informed us that everything still looked great and that we were still right on schedule. She also brought in a couple of pictures from the ultrasound. We got back in the car so Jake could take me back to work, I was practically bouncing up and down in my seat, I couldn't wait to tell Lorelai!

Jake dropped me off, as he also had to get back to work and I ran in to find Lorelai. I quickly asked Michel where she was and he pointed to her office and started to say something else, but I didn't listen I just ran in.

"Lorelai, it's a girl!" I said holding out the pictures.

She gave a squeal and came running over to give me a hug and look at the pictures. "Oh, a little girl! This is so exciting! We so have to go shopping later!"

I excitedly nodded my head yes, and as I did I noticed Mia was sitting in the office, "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize anyone else was in here." I said as I shot Lorelai a look.

Mia stood up; "Oh it's no problem, congratulations by the way. And I'm sorry if I flustered you earlier, just think of it as a test you passed with flying colors."

I blushed, "Thank you." I turned to Lorelai, "Well I'm going to go tell any and everyone that I can find, and get back to work of course."

"Have fun, and shopping later don't forget!"

I ran out of the room to start telling other people.

Still in Lorelai's office

Nobody's POV

Lorelai and Mia took their seats again and continued talking, "She seems like a nice girl."

Lorelai smiled, "She really is, and she has come so far since she moved here."

"Oh?" Mia said, more as a question.

"When she first came she was so quiet and scared, she was afraid to do anything that might upset anyone. She comes from a truly awful family that makes the Gilmore's look like Mike and Carol Brady. And when she first found out she was pregnant she was so freaked out by it, and trust me she still has her moments, but now she's so excited and she has grownup so much in the last couple of months. She finally seems happy."

Mia set down the cup of coffee she had been drinking, "Sounds like someone else I know, someone who was in a very similar situation 21 years ago."

Lorelai smiled, "I hadn't really thought of that, it's funny how things come around, isn't it."

After telling every person I saw in the inn, I pulled out my phone and dialed a familiar number. The phone rang and rang until finally I got the voicemail. I waited for it to finish then left my message. "Hey Ty, it's me. I figured you'd be waiting by the phone to hear the news, maybe I'll be cruel and not tell you, that could be fun." I left a long pause, "Ok I'm just kidding, it's a girl! Call me back, I love you. Bye."

I paused for a moment so I could figure out whom all I still needed to call, as I was thinking my phone started ringing. I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Rory, "Hey Rory!"

"_So what's the verdict? I've been practically waiting by the phone for your call."_

I smiled and decided to have a little fun, "Guess," I told her.

"_Hey that's not fair, I don't want to guess. I suck at guessing."_

"Come on Rory, you only have two options."

"_Um, a girl?"_

"Yes!"

Rory squealed almost as loud as Lorelai had, _"Wow! That's so cool! Is mom taking you shopping?"_

I laughed, "Of course! Do you want to come?"

Rory sighed, _"I wish I could but I have a massive paper I have to work on. We'll go some other time, ok?"_

"Sounds great, bye Rory!"

I hung up the phone and thought of one more person I needed to call, he needed to know before the word spread around town. I went to call the diner, but I accidentally called Luke's cell phone instead. Oh well, it works either way, I thought.

The phone rang and he answered, _"Hello."_

It was hard to hear him, it was really loud wherever he was, "Luke? What's going on?"

"_Oh, Grace sorry It's just the lunch rush."_

I glanced at a clock, whoops, I guess it was, "Sorry Luke, I didn't mean to bother you. I just had some news."

"_You're not bothering me, let me just find a quite place."_ I heard him yell something to someone and when he came back on the phone there was no noise in the background, _"That's better, so what's your news?"_

"Well you might remember that I had my doctor's appointment today, and we found out that it's a girl."

"_That's great Grace! Congratulations!"_

I smiled, "Thanks Luke, I'll let you get back to work now. Hey wait a minute, you're at work?"

"_Yeah,"_ He answered, unsure of my point.

I started laughing, Lorelai was gonna love this, "You were talking on your phone in the diner?"

He seemed flustered, _"Jeez, I'm never gonna live this down, am I?"_

"Nope. Have fun at work! And no cell phones in the diner!"

I hung up the phone as Lorelai was coming out of her office; "You ready to go?" She asked.

"But I thought I was supposed to work until 4?" I asked her.

"Well you were, but I just had a talk with your boss and she said that if you don't go shopping now, you're fired. Since I would hate for you to lose your job, we better get going."

I laughed at her rambling, "Ok let's go!"

Mia walked out of the office and Lorelai pulled me off to the side; "Do you mind if Mia comes with us? I kind of already asked her but I can get us out of it, if you want."

I thought about it, I didn't know Mia, but Lorelai obviously liked her. I was about to reply when Mia walked over. "Are we ready to go?"

Lorelai looked at me and I smiled back at her, "Ready!"

We had been shopping for about an hour and I think that already my baby girl owns more than I do. It had been fun though, Mia was awesome, I can see why Lorelai likes her so much. I was getting tired so I decided to skip the next store and rest instead, Mia had offered to sit with me but I told her to go ahead with Lorelai and not to let her buy the whole store.

I found a comfy chair, sat down and started looking through some of my shopping bags. I've never seen so much pink and purple in my life! There was suddenly a lot of noise in the toy store that was across from me and I turned to look. I saw a little girl who was about 3 or 4 years old and she was screaming, crying and throwing a huge fit about something. I watched as the woman, who was with her tried to calm her down, but nothing was working and the girl just kept screaming.

It all suddenly became very real to me; I was going to have a little girl, a baby that it was my job to raise and to take care of. I mean, I always knew I would have a baby to take care of, but that's a baby. It can't be that hard, but I actually will be responsible for another human being. I suddenly got up, grabbed all my bags and ran into the store that Mia and Lorelai were in.

They were looking at a pair of baby tennis shoes when I came running in, "Lorelai, I can't do this!" I exclaimed.

They both stopped what they were doing and looked at me with concerned looks on their faces. Lorelai came over and put a hand on my arm, "Honey, what's wrong?"

"I can't do it Lorelai, I can't have a baby. I don't know what I'm doing and I'm going to mess it up before it's a week old!" I dropped all my bags and brought my hands to my face.

Lorelai wrapped her arm around me, "Grace, you need to calm down. You know you aren't supposed to get yourself worked up like this."

I pulled out of her grasp and turned so I was facing her, "I can't calm down Lorelai, I don't know anything. I've never even had a dog or a fish; I haven't even had a plant! How can I take care of a baby when I don't even know how to take care of pet!" I cried, I had nearly worked myself into hysterics.

"Ok, we need to get you out of here. Mia can you grab her bags and go get us a table in the food court? We'll be there in a minute." Mia agreed, gathered up my stuff and left.

I stood there wiping a few tears from my eyes when Lorelai again put her arm around me, "Come on, let's get out of here."

We walked around the mall in silence for a few moments before Lorelai spoke up, "So tell me, what was all that about?"

"It was nothing." I said, trying to be believable.

"That was not nothing, that was a full-scale freak out. Now come on, what brought it on?"

"I don't know, I guess I just finally realized what was happening." I went and sat down on the nearest bench and Lorelai joined me.

"You just finally realized you're pregnant? Because that's kind of obvious to everyone right now," She said as she patted my ever-growing stomach. I gave her a look, "Sorry, not the right time for that. You just seemed so excited before, what happened?"

"I just, I really know nothing about babies or kids. I've probably only held a baby 5 times before. How am I supposed to be a parent to one?" I said, once again leaning over and placing my head in my hands.

Lorelai gently rubbed my back, "Honey, no one knows how to be a parent until they become one. Look at Rory and I, I had no clue and she turned out ok didn't she?"

I sat up again, and took a deep breath. "I guess your right, but I'm going to need help, a lot of help."

She put her arm around me, "Anything you need Hun. Ooh! I have my first piece of advice for you!"

I looked at her; unsure I wanted to ask my next question, "What is it?" I slowly asked.

"You need to name her after yourself!"

"No." I answered quickly; "You know the story behind my names."

We stood up and started walking to the food court, "But that's what I did with Rory. Don't you want your daughter to turn out like Rory?"

"If I did then maybe I should just name her Rory."

"Ooh! That's a good idea too, or an even better one name her Lorelai! It would be a great way to thank me for all my help."

I suddenly remembered something; "I have something even better. I called Luke on his cell phone earlier to tell him about my appointment and he was working."

Lorelai failed to see the point, "So?"

"Lorelai, he was working and he was on his cell phone. He was on his cell phone in the diner."

She gasped, "That is so much better!"

A/N: This was a very important full circle chapter, with Mia coming back and all. This was orginally one of the very final chapters, but I've extended it some, there should be about 4 more. Also, I'm thinking of doing a sequel but it will probably focus more equally on everyone, but I'm not sure yet. Let me know if you even want a sequel, and if you have any ideas they are always appreciated! Thanks for reading and please review!


	15. Happily Ever After

Time seemed to be flying by, and yet it still seemed so slow. I'm 26 weeks pregnant, or about 6 ½ months. I feel like I'm getting bigger by the second, and I know the worst is yet to come. I was in my apartment desperately trying to find something to wear. Jake was taking me on a date tonight and I was supposed to wear something fancy, the problem is that I have nothing.

After trying on yet another dress that no longer fit, I was about throw all of it out when I heard someone come in the door. "Hello! Is anyone here?"

Lorelai, perfect. "I need help!" I called to her.

She came rushing in and looked around the room, "Wow, what happened here?"

"I have nothing to wear tonight. Nothing fits anymore, ok that's not true, but I can't exactly wear sweats on my date tonight." I sat back down on the bed and landed in a pile of clothes.

Lorelai came over and handed me a bag, "Here."

I opened the bag to find a dress, "What's this?"

Lorelai sat down beside me, "That is what you are wearing tonight."

I pulled it out of the bag; it was a floor length, silver, v-neck dress with an empire waist. I let out a little gasp when I saw it, "Lorelai, it's perfect!"

"Well don't just look at it, go put it on!" She said excitedly.

I put it on and it fit perfectly I walked back into the bedroom, "Lorelai, you are amazing!"

"Oh, I know." She smiled, "And you look beautiful."

I blushed, "Well the dress is really great."

She got a very excited look on her face, "Let's do your hair now!"

"My hair?"

"Yeah, it'll be fun, we can get you all dolled up."

I reluctantly agreed, Lorelai spent the next hour fixing my hair and makeup, something I never would've done. She was just putting on the finishing touches when Jake came in the door. I came out into the living room and greeted him with a kiss, "Hey." I said.

"Wow!" Jake said, "You look amazing."

"Well you get another kiss for that," I told him before kissing him again.

"I have something for you," Jake said as he took my hand, he took out a corsage and slipped it on my wrist.

"A corsage? Jake what kind of date is this?" I asked.

"You'll see, just be patient."

Lorelai came out of my bedroom with a camera, "Ok, now you have to let me take pictures!"

I looked at Jake, "Pictures?"

After several different pictures were taken, Jake and I were finally allowed to leave. When we got in his car I once again asked what was going on, and once again I was told to be patient.

He took me to a nice restaurant just outside of Hartford, we had a nice time talking and the dinner was wonderful, but I spent the whole time wondering what was happening next. Something was up, I could tell that much. After dinner I was disappointed to find that we were headed back to Stars Hollow, maybe there wasn't anything happening.

Once we got back into town he parked, but not in front of Luke's, we were in front of Miss Patty's. Jake came and helped me out of the car and escorted me inside, we got in and he turned on the lights. The whole place was decorated with balloons, streamers and tulle everywhere. There was a long table set up with a variety of snacks and punch. A DJ station was set up in the corner and there was a large banner that read, "Happily Ever After."

I turned back to face Jake, "Ok really, what's going on?"

He wrapped his arms around my waist, "The other day I was thinking about something you told me when we were in New York. There were all these kids walking around in their fancy dresses and suits going to some school dance. You told me that you had never gotten to go to a dance and you always wanted to. So this, Grace, is your school dance."

I stood in shock; "You remembered that?" He nodded and I wiped away the tears that were coming to my eyes.

"Hey, don't cry," He said.

I laughed, "You should've thought of that before you got me pregnant."

He went over and turned on the music and we started to dance. When the song stopped he stopped dancing, grabbed my hands, and got down on one knee. I stared at him in shock and he started talking, "Grace, from the moment I met you I knew there was something special about you and the more I've gotten to know you the more I want to know you."

He put a hand to my stomach, "At first when you told me about this little girl I'll admit that I was scared, but now I'm just excited. I'm excited to be able to do this together, and I want to do it together."

He grabbed a small velvet box from his pocket and opened, "Grace Bennett, will you marry me?"

I didn't even have to think about the answer, "Yes!"

He stood up and kissed me until we heard whispering behind the door. I nodded my head towards it, "What's going on out there?"

He went over and opened the door and people started coming in all dressed in formalwear, "What's a dance without other people?"

I was standing there, smiling at him as Lorelai, Rory, Sookie, and Lane all came and practically attacked me. After they were all done hugging me and inspecting the ring I turned to Lorelai, "So that's what the dress, hair, makeup, and pictures were all about." I gave her another hug, "Thanks Lorelai."

Turning back to the group I announced that I was going to go find my fiancée. I found him talking to Miss Patty and I went over and looped my arm around his. After talking to Patty for a moment we started to make the rounds and greet everyone, just as we were done I saw someone walk through the doors and I ran over to him. "Ty!"

"Gracie! Congratulations!" He said giving me a big hug.

"What are you doing here, I thought you were in Washington all week?" I asked.

"Oh come on Gracie, you didn't think I'd miss this, did you?

Jake came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, "There's someone over in the corner wearing a suit that you missed."

"Every guy is wearing a suit." I said, wondering why he would point out that particular fact.

"Yes, but guess which guy is wearing it." I turned towards the corner he was talking about and saw Luke. I turned back to Jake and Ty, "Excuse me boys, I'll be right back."

"Hey Luke," I said as I waved to him.

Luke turned and gave me a hug, "Congratulations!"

"Thanks Luke," I smiled, "You look nice."

"You look very nice too." He said.

We stood there for a moment, I had something I wanted to ask him, but I wasn't sure what he would say. "Luke? Can I ask you something, you can feel free to say no."

He told me to go ahead and I continued, "Well you know that my parents probably aren't going to be excited about all this, and I doubt I'll even get them to come to the wedding. So I was thinking that maybe, well you see, you've been kind of like a dad to me and I was wondering if maybe you would want to walk me down the aisle?" I looked down at the floor as I said it.

"Grace, I would be honored to."

He gave me another hug, "Thanks Luke."

A new song started playing and Lorelai came walking over, "Ok Grace, it's my turn with Luke now."

I laughed, and went to find Jake again. We started dancing along with everyone else and Jake leaned down to whisper in my ear, "Are you happy?"

I reached up to answer him, "So happy. It was the perfect fairytale proposal, just like I always wanted."

A/N: I have no idea where that proposal idea came from, but I thought it worked. Let me know what you think! Next chapter we will again be skipping ahead in time and a baby will be born!


	16. Welcome to the World

A/N: I don't think I ever said this, but Jake's last name is Davis and the baby will be taking his last name.

Lorelai and I were standing in the living room of my apartment watching Luke and Jake bring up bags and boxes full of stuff. Today had been our big shopping day where we got everything we needed, all the furniture, clothes, diapers, room decorations. Everything and then some.

Once everything was brought up we stopped and look at it. It was all piled on the floor in the middle of the apartment. I groaned and sat down on the couch, "We are never going to get this all done in time!"

Lorelai sat beside me, "Of course we are hun, look at the big strong men we have to do the work, plus you still have another month before you're due."

"Yeah, but look around, there is stuff everywhere and I'm not even moved out of the bedroom yet so we can't even begin setting this stuff up."

Jake came over and knelt down in front of me, "Grace, I promise first thing in the morning we will get everything set up, it'll all be done tomorrow. For now though, it's getting late and you are getting grumpy so we'll leave you to get to bed."

They all said their good-byes and after unsuccessfully trying to put a few things away, I went to bed.

I woke up with a pain in my lower back and abdomen, I looked at the clock it was 2:13am the pain didn't last too long so I rolled over and went back to sleep. I woke up a few minutes later with a similar pain, but I once again ignored it and went back to sleep. Once again I woke up with the same pain, it was now only 2:23.

I sat awake for the next 30 minutes but the pain just kept coming every few minutes. I tried to take a deep breath and calm myself, it couldn't be happening now. It was still too early; I still had 4 more weeks. When a pain once again hit me I grabbed my phone and called Jake, the phone rang and rang but nobody picked up.

I hung up the phone and dialed another number, "Come on, pick up, pick up." I said.

I heard a voice on the other end, _"Whoever this is, I hate you."_

"Lorelai, its Grace."

"_Grace? What's wrong?"_ She asked, her voice full of concern.

"I don't know, I think I'm having contractions and Jake won't pick up his phone and I don't know what to do!" I exclaimed.

"_We'll be right over!"_ She said before hanging up the phone.

I tried calling Jake again, but he still wasn't answering. No more than 5 minutes later I heard people running up the steps. Luke and Lorelai both ran in the door, still wearing their pajamas. I filled them in on what was happening and they decided to take me to the hospital. The whole way there I tried calling Jake, but still there was no answer.

We got to the hospital and they quickly got me into a room and started checking me out. Lorelai and Luke were both sitting in the room with me when the doctor walked in and informed me that I was in active labor. After a moment of freaking out, she explained that although babies born at 36 weeks are considered premature, they generally require little to no special care.

After she left the room we all sat there in silence. Lorelai gently stroked my arm, "It's going to be ok, you heard the doctor."

"I know, it's just too early, nothings ready, I'm not ready and Jake's not even here!"

Luke stood up and grabbed my hand; "I'll take care of that." He looked at Lorelai; "I'll be back soon."

Luke left and Lorelai and I decided to make some phone calls to let people know what was going on. After calling Ty, Rory, Sookie, and Jake a few more times we just sat and waited. The contractions were getting stronger and closer together, but there was still no Jake or Luke.

We decided to take a walk to try and pass the time and as we got back to my room we heard someone yelling and asking where I was. We hurried as fast as we could, which wasn't very fast, to get to my room. We walked in to see Luke sitting in the chair while Jake paced the floor, as soon as Jake saw us he ran over.

"Grace! Are you ok?" He asked as he hugged me.

"Well I'm having a baby, but other than that I'm fine. Where were you? Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"I left it on vibrate and it was in the other room, I couldn't hear it ringing. So Luke came and practically broke down my door to get me here."

He helped me back into bed and the doctor came to check on me again. When she was done she announced that it was time to take me into the delivery room.

Lorelai came over and hugged me; "Good luck hun, Luke and I will be in the waiting room anxiously waiting for news."

She tried to pull back but I didn't let go of her, "No, Lorelai, you can't leave me. I-I need you to come with me. Please, I need my mom in there and you are the closest thing I have."

She managed to pull back a little, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, please. I need you in there." I told her, still not letting go.

"Ok, I'll come." She said as she stroked my hair, she gave a little laugh, "But you are going to have to let go of me sometime."

I finally released my hold on her and they came to take me to delivery. Jake and Lorelai got changed into scrubs and then followed me in. Lorelai stood on my right side and Jake was on my left, they were both holding my hands and whispering in my ears as things went on. It was going slowly, but it was going. Finally after about an hour of pushing they saw the head.

Jake and Lorelai kept cheering me on until finally we heard a cry fill the room. The doctor held up a screaming baby and said, "It's still a girl!"

As soon as I saw her I started sobbing, she was the most beautiful disgusting looking baby ever. Jake got to cut the cord and they let me see her for a moment before they had to take her away for testing, to make sure everything was alright. Jake followed them, never letting our precious baby out of his sight.

…

I was lying in my hospital bed holding my little girl and looking her over. She really was perfect, I know every mom says that, but I swear this time it's true. She had a head full of soft brown hair, Jake's green eyes, and the tiniest fingers and toes I've ever seen.

Jake and I were staring at her in total and complete awe when the door opened and Lorelai, Luke, Rory, and Ty all walked in. We smiled and looked up, "Hey everyone, come meet the baby." I said to them.

I handed her to Jake so he could hold her up for everyone to see, he made the announcement to the group as no one besides Lorelai had gotten the details yet. "It's still a girl! Beautiful and completely healthy, 6lbs 4oz, 17inches long."

"And the name is?" Lorelai asked, even she didn't know the name yet.

Jake and I looked at each other, "Are we keeping the name?" I asked him. He nodded and I continued talking, "Awhile back when I had a freak out at the mall and Lorelai was giving me parenting advice, she told me the first thing I needed to do was to name the baby after myself and I told her no."

Lorelai smiled at the memory and I continued, "In my family it's very important who you are named after, so I wanted to name her after someone who has been very important to all of us, and I also used her suggestion to name the baby after myself."

Lorelai had a huge smile on her face, as she realized I was talking about her, Jake handed the baby back to me and I announced to the group, "Everyone, meet Elle Victoria Davis."

Lorelai's eyes filled with tears and she walked over and gave me a hug, "It's beautiful, I love it."

Once she stepped back I moved Elle towards her, "Do you want to hold her?"

"Of course!" She came and took Elle from my arms, "Hello Elle, I'm Lorelai and you are named after me. Now that might sound weird since your name isn't Lorelai, but you know what I mean." She continued rambling to Elle for a little while longer before handing her to Rory.

Rory was holding her very carefully; "She's so beautiful! Where did you get Elle from though?"

"It's from my first name, Eleanor, there was no way I was using Eleanor but Elle just seemed perfect." I said.

"Gracie, now how long does the uncle have to wait? I think it's my turn." Rory handed Elle to Ty. He held her in his arms and whispered something in her ear.

I rolled my eyes, "Ty, what did you tell her?"

He smiled, "Nothing, it's our little secret."

Ty handed Elle over to Luke, Luke held her and started talking to her and as he did she opened her eyes for the first time since everyone had walked in, he continued talking to her and she just stared at him.

Lorelai walked over and put an arm around Luke, "Hey pretty girl, look at you with your pretty green eyes. You like Luke, don't you? Well just so you know he's mine, but I'm willing to share him with you. I think he kind of likes you."

"Ah jeez," Luke said.

It wasn't until this point that I noticed that Rory was taking pictures of everything that was happening, "Rory, what's up with all the pictures?" I asked her.

She stopped and looked like she had been caught doing something bad, "I, um, just thought you might like to have them."

Her words and facial expression didn't seem to say the same thing, but I didn't let on that I was suspicious, "Thanks Rory, I'm sure I will." I started yawning and Jake started shooing people out of the room.

…

Outside of the door

Nobody's POV

Lorelai turned to Rory, "Hey way to be a smooth talker, she'll never know that we're planning something!"

"Sorry, it was unexpected, she hadn't said anything yet it just caught me off guard." Rory said.

"You two going to keep fighting about this or are we going to go?" Luke asked.

The group went to a drugstore with a 1-hour photo center and dropped off the pictures Rory had taken. After shopping around to pick up some baby necessities they went back to pick up the pictures, then went back to Grace's apartment.

They spent the whole rest of the day and into the early morning in the apartment getting everything ready. Grace's things were moved out into the main room, and Elle's room was all set up and decorated. At about 9am Rory had to leave to get back to Yale for a class and Ty went to get breakfast for everyone.

Luke and Lorelai sat at the table and worked on their final project, they got the pictures Rory had taken and spread them out on the table. They were sorting through them and picking out the good ones when Lorelai saw a picture and picked it up.

"Luke, look at this," It was a picture that was taken when Luke was holding Elle and Lorelai had her arm around them, they were both looking down at Elle. "You look good with a baby."

"You think so?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, I do." Lorelai paused for a moment, "You know, I think you'd look good holding our baby."

"Oh yeah? And when will I be holding our babies?"

Lorelai smiled, "Soon I hope."

"Soon. I think we can manage that."

They started kissing right as Ty walked back in the apartment, "Am I interrupting something here?"

Luke and Lorelai both turned and started blushing, "No, come on in Ty. We were just finishing up with the pictures." Lorelai said.

They finished with the pictures and after eating Luke and Lorelai headed to work and Ty went back to the hospital.

…

**Back at the Hospital**

**Grace's POV**

I was laying in my hospital bed having just woken up from a nap. The doctors had wanted to do a couple more tests on Elle to make sure she would be fine to go home tomorrow and Jake had gone with them too "Supervise."

I heard the door open and thought it was Jake coming back, to my surprise it wasn't Jake, it was my sister.

"Alyssa, hi." I said, trying to hide my surprise.

"Hi Elea- oh sorry, Grace. Tyler called and told me what happened so I thought I would come see how you were doing." She had a large pink gift bag that she set on the chair.

We sat there in an awkward silence for a minute, before I finally just asked her, "Alyssa, what are you doing here?"

"I told you, Tyler called and I wanted to know how you were doing. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine Alyssa, and that's not what I meant. What are you doing here, in this room, visiting me when you've never cared before." I said, I wasn't really yelling at her, I was just curious.

She sighed and seemed upset, "I know, I've been horrible, I really have. That's how I was expected to act," I started to say something, but she continued, "I know that's not really an excuse but it's the way I was taught to act, I didn't know any better."

"Maybe you didn't know any better when you were a kid, I'll give you that, but this has been going on my whole life. You had to have realized it sooner."

"I did, and I have no excuse, I was a butt. I'm sorry Grace, do you think we could start over?"

She seemed genuinely sorry, "Yeah I guess we could," I started laughing, "You've been around your kids too much, you were a butt? Come on Alyssa, you could've at least used the real word."

"Just you wait, it'll happen to you," She laughed along with me. "Now when do I get to meet my new niece?"

"Soon, Jake should be back with her any minuet," I paused I wanted to ask something, but I probably didn't want to know the answer, "Alyssa, do Mom and Dad know?"

She nodded her head, "Yeah they do."

"They aren't coming, are they." I said, more as a statement than a question, she shook her head no, "Oh well, it's probably better that way."

I looked up and saw Jake walking in the door with Elle; he had a questioning look on his face. I smiled when I saw him, "Hey, you're back! Everything still ok?" I asked as he handed me Elle.

"Everything is perfect, we are still all set to go home tomorrow."

"Great," I smiled, "Jake this is Alyssa, my sister. Alyssa this is Jake, my fiancée and Elle's dad."

"Nice to meet you," She shook his hand, "Now I still haven't met Elle."

"Oh sorry, this is Elle Victoria Davis," I said as I handed Elle to Alyssa. While Alyssa was looking at Elle, Jake leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Everything ok there?"

I whispered, "Yes," back to him.

Ty walked in the door and there was a tense moment when he realized it was Alyssa holding Elle, but I gave him a sign saying that it was ok and he calmed down.

He greeted Alyssa, then turned to me, "I don't have long, I've got to get back to work I just wanted to stop by and say goodbye." He leaned down to give me a hug.

"Bye Ty, thanks for coming."

"Are you kidding me? I wouldn't have missed this for anything!" He walked over to Alyssa, and she handed Elle to him. "Goodbye Elle, it was great to meet you. Tell your mom that she needs to send me new pictures everyday." He said as he handed Elle back to me. "Bye Gracie."

He walked out of the room without another word to Alyssa; there was definitely some tension there.

"I should probably be going, give me a call sometime?" She asked.

"I will, bye Alyssa." I said as I waved.

It was after she walked out the door that I noticed the present she brought was still sitting on the chair, I pointed to it, "Jake, see what's in there."

He went and opened it, and pulled out several outfits, blankets and a note. I was about to read the note when Elle started crying, I glanced at the clock she was probably hungry. Elle is a really good baby, she only cries when she's hungry or needs a diaper change and she loves to watch everyone, her eyes are always wide open taking everything in. We spent the rest of the afternoon taking care of her and getting to know her.

…

**The next morning**

Elle and I had been officially discharged and we were free to go home. Jake was down putting the car seat base in the car while I got Elle dressed in her coming home outfit. As soon as I finished I put her into her car seat so I could finish getting everything together.

Jake came and got us and we all went home. As we drove by the diner I noticed it was very crowded inside, "How long do you think it's actually going to take us to get upstairs?" I asked Jake.

He parked the car and we got out, "We might never get there, if it starts getting really bad then pinch her or something so she'll cry and you can say you have to feed her."

Knowing that everyone was going to want to see Elle, I got her out of her car seat, "That's mean! My poor little baby, daddy is never going to get to hold you around large crowds."

We walked up to the diner and saw everyone turn and face the window, "Oh boy." I said before we walked in. As soon as we did everyone surrounded us, luckily they had all been filled in on the details, but they were all wanting to get a look. We could barely get through the door because there were so many people. Luke broke through the crowd and pulled us to safety.

We walked up the stairs and when we got through the door I realized the large pile of Elle stuff was gone. All of my stuff was set up in the main room, we walked into Elle's bedroom to see that the room was totally set up and decorated. Everything was put away and there were even pictures on the walls. I walked over to the pictures to see they were the ones from the hospital. There was a big picture of Jake and I holding Elle, and it was surrounded by smaller pictures of everyone else the first time they held Elle.

I went to lay Elle down in her crib and noticed that over her crib in large white wooden letters was written, "Elle."

I walked over to find Jake looking at a note from Lorelai; I went over to read it.

_Jake, Grace, and Elle,_

_Welcome home! Everything is all set up so you have nothing to worry about. Luke left some food in the fridge that you can heat up when you get hungry. He also said you can call down to the diner at any time and place your order. Good luck on your first night and call me if you need anything._

_Lorelai_

Even though I didn't need anything, I went and picked up the phone and dialed Lorelai's number.

"_Wow a crisis already?"_

I laughed, "Nope, just calling to tell you how amazing you are."

"_Are you just now realizing this, because I for one have known it for awhile."_

"Seriously Lorelai, you didn't have to do all this."

"_Well it wasn't all me, Rory, Luke and Ty were all in on it."_

"Make sure to thank them for me."

"_I will hun, have a good night and get lots of rest."_

I hung up the phone and sat down next to Jake on the couch, he wrapped his arm around me and I laid my head back on his shoulder. I had a family now, a soon to be husband, a daughter, a brother and a sister, and for the first time I felt like I had parents. Not James and Caroline, sure they were technically my parents, but Luke and Lorelai were more my parents than they ever had been.

A/N: There you go, we now have a baby! I hope you liked it! Please review and let me know!


	17. Unofficially Official

I heard crying for what seemed like the millionth time that night. I slowly got out of bed and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I went into Elle's room and got her out of the bed, I sat down in the rocking chair and began to feed her and slowly rocked back and forth with my head resting against the back of the chair. It was my first night taking care of her alone, for the first 2 weeks Jake had stayed here with me, only he slept on the couch. He was going out of town for the weekend and had an early flight so he had stayed at his place tonight.

Once Elle was done eating I laid on her my shoulder and began to burp her. I thought about the past 2 weeks, they had been great. I was on maternity leave for the next few weeks so I had been just enjoying my time getting to know my daughter. She was still just as beautiful, her hair had a slight curl to it and her eyes were still the same green. She was still an easygoing baby, with the exception of tonight. I might be crazy and maybe it isn't even possible, but I really think that she just misses her daddy. She is definitely a daddy's girl and already is wrapped around his little finger.

Jake had been great, every time she cried in the night he would get up and bring her to me, and he had already changed more than his share of dirty diapers. We had decided to wait a few more months for our wedding, his parents have a little cabin up in New York that we were planning on going to for our honeymoon and wanted Elle to be a little older before we left her.

Luke and Lorelai had also been very helpful. Luke had provided every meal for the first week for free, we get charged now, but anytime the diner is open he'll make us whatever we want and bring it up. Lorelai spends a lot of her free time with us; she is great with Elle. She even convinced Jake and I to go out for the night while she watched her, we only stayed out about an hour, but it was still nice. Luke and Lorelai both just adore Elle, I'm just waiting to hear that they are having their own little baby.

Elle finally fell asleep and I went back to bed. As much as it stinks being woken up every few hours, I really did love it.

…

At around 9:00 I was up and had Elle all dressed and ready to go. I was tired of staying home, especially when it was just Elle and I so I decided we would run some errands today. Our first stop was breakfast, which only required going downstairs, but it was still an adventure for us.

I picked up Elle and started walking to the door, I paused for a moment debating whether or not I should bring her carrier, but I quickly remembered that it would not be needed. I walked in the diner and saw Lorelai sitting at a table alone and I went to join her.

Lorelai took one look at me and asked, "Bad night?"

"I really look that bad?" I asked.

"No, you just look tired."

"The little booger didn't want to sleep last night," I said.

Lorelai reached for Elle, "Well she is already the cutest little booger, she doesn't need her beauty sleep."

I handed Elle to Lorelai, "She might not, but her mommy sure does."

Lorelai gave me a sympathetic look, "Do you need me to take her for a little while?"

"Maybe later, I'm fine for now. Its just been different with Jake gone and it didn't help that Alyssa called last night."

"And?" Lorelai asked, she knew Alyssa and Ty had been talking to my parents about my wedding.

I shook my head and quietly said, "They're not coming, they want nothing to do with it, or me, or Elle."

Lorelai placed a comforting hand on my arm, "I'm sorry hon, I know you wanted them to be there."

I shrugged my shoulders, "Oh well, maybe it'll be better this way, less drama for sure. Besides it's my own fault, I should've handled everything differently."

"Grace don't blame yourself for this, you did nothing wrong. They should come and they are the stupid ones for shutting you out and not even trying to fix things. You have tried time and time again to talk with them and work things out, they are the ones who should've handled things differently."

"Yeah, I guess," I said.

I sat and watched Lorelai play with Elle for a minute; "I changed my mind, would you mind watching Elle for a couple hours? I think I want to go try and lay down for awhile."

"Sure hon, I'm glad to." She said, although I'm pretty sure she didn't believe me.

"I just fed her so she should be fine, but if you need anything just come up and get me."

Lorelai said she would and I headed upstairs.

…

**Still in the diner**

**Nobody's POV**

Luke walked over to the table soon after Grace went upstairs, "Where did Grace go?" He asked Lorelai.

"Upstairs to try and get some sleep, Elle apparently was keeping her awake last night."

"Are you sure that was it? She seemed upset." Luke said.

"Her parents refuse to come to her wedding or come see her, they won't even come see Elle." Lorelai said as she looked at the sleeping baby in her arms.

"That's ridiculous!" Luke exclaimed, he was quickly getting angry, "How hard is it to come to a wedding? Or to come see their daughter and granddaughter."

"I know, but there's nothing we can do about it, trust me I know plenty of people like her parents, they won't change their minds." Lorelai said, keeping her voice calm so she wouldn't walk Elle.

"She just needs new parents," Luke mumbled under his breath.

Lorelai heard what he said, "That's it! Luke that's a great idea! Can you get away from the diner? We have some planning to do!"

Luke agreed, even though he had no idea what she was talking about.

…

**Grace's apartment**

**Grace's POV**

I went upstairs and collapsed on the bed, I knew Lorelai was right, but I didn't want to admit it. If it stayed my problem it meant that I could fix it, or at least try to. The minute it was turned over to them I would have no control, and I knew they wouldn't do anything.

I didn't want to think about it anymore, I needed a distraction, I needed Jake. I got my phone and dialed his number.

"_Hey babe." _I heard him say, it was good to hear his voice.

"Hey," I replied softly.

"_What's wrong?"_

"I'm just exhausted, your daughter kept me awake all night."

"_My daughter? She's just my daughter now?"_

I laughed, "When she keeps me up all night, she's your daughter."

"_I missed you guys last night, I'm sorry I wasn't there to help."_

"You couldn't help it, you had to go."

"_I know, I still missed you though. Do you want to tell me what else is wrong now?"_

There was no use in hiding anything from him, he knew me too well, "It's just my parents, they refuse to come to the wedding, but it'll be fine I'll get over it"

"_You shouldn't have to just get over it."_

"I know, but like I said I'll be fine."

"_Ok well you go get some rest, and call me if you need to talk."_

"I will, I love you."

"_Love you too, give Elle a big kiss for me."_

I hung up the phone and fell fast asleep.

…

I woke up hours later to my stomach grumbling, I turned to look at the clock and saw that it was almost 1:00pm. I couldn't believe I had slept that long, and where were Lorelai and Elle? Elle should've needed to be fed hours ago. I turned over and saw a note sitting on the pillow next to mine. I wiped my eyes and picked it up.

_Hey Sleeping Beauty!_

_I hope you had a nice nap! When I came up to get you, you were dead asleep and I couldn't wake you (serious, I tried). I got Elle's things and we are hanging out at my house. Don't worry, she's been fed and is fine! Come over whenever you are ready, there's no rush!_

_Lorelai_

That would explain a few things, I hadn't thought I was that tired but I must have been. I went over to the kitchen and quickly made myself a sandwich to go. I walked downstairs and waved to Luke as I walked through the diner. I decided just to walk over to Lorelai's, passing several townspeople on the way, I waved to all of them and continued walking.

I walked in the door and saw Lorelai sitting on the couch watching TV, "Hey!" I called to her.

She turned and smiled, "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Much better, I didn't realize I was so tired!" I told her before asking, "Where's Elle?"

Lorelai pointed towards Rory's room, "Asleep, she's been out for about an hour now, she sleeps just like you."

I laughed and sat down on the couch next to Lorelai, "Dead to the world?"

"Exactly. You know I think I have a bruise," She said as she began examining her arm.

"A bruise? What did I do to you?" I asked.

"Well I first just tried calling your name to wake you up, then when that didn't work I tried just kind of poking you, but that didn't work either so I put my arm on your shoulder and that's when you smacked me! Then you just rolled right over and continued sleeping and that's when I gave up."

I laughed, "Sorry about that, I don't really like to be woken up."

"It's ok I'm used to it, Rory can be just as violent." Elle started to cry in the other room and I started to get up and get her when Lorelai stopped me, "You sit, I'll get her."

She went and got Elle and handed Elle and her bottle to me. We sat and talked for a long time after that, I was feeling a lot better about everything, I didn't need my parents I had Luke and Lorelai. At least that's what I kept telling myself, I wanted Elle to have grandparents and while she did have Jake's parents I wanted her to have mine as well. Once Elle fell back asleep, I decided it was time to head home.

…

The weekend had past slowly, but Jake was finally home again. It was great to have him back and I even think Elle was happier. It was also great because he was home to watch Elle tonight; I was going on my very first girl's night out since Elle was born. It wasn't a big deal, Rory and I were just going to do a little shopping and get some dinner, but I was excited to get out. I was finally ready so I went and gave Jake and Elle a kiss and went to pick up Rory.

…

**Grace's Apartment**

**Nobody's POV**

About 10 minutes after Grace left there was a knock on the door, Jake went and answered it. He opened the door to see Lorelai standing there; she quickly looked around the room and asked, "Is she gone?"

"Yep, are you ready to get things set up?" Jake asked.

She nodded her head, "Luke's got the diner shut down and Sookie just arrived to help decorate."

Jake grabbed the baby monitor and followed Lorelai out the door, "Ok, let's go!"

…

**Grace's car**

**Grace's POV**

Rory and I had a great time shopping and found some super cute clothes. As always I think Elle ended up with more than me, but baby clothes are just so much cuter. I parked the car and we got out, we had already eaten but we were going to grab a cup of coffee at Luke's, well at least Rory was.

As we were walking Rory pointed out Kirk doing some dance moves in the town square, it kept us entertained until we got to the door and I realized the diner was closed. "That's odd," I said, "I wonder what's going on?"

I got my key out and opened the door, I walked in and Lorelai, Luke, Ty, Alyssa yelled, "Surprise!"

I stopped and looked around, how did I not see them before? Just then Kirk walked by the window; he must have been the distraction. I walked over to where Lorelai, Luke, Jake and Elle were, "What in the world is going on? It's not my birthday and I'm already engaged."

Lorelai put an arm around my shoulders, "We have a proposition for you."

She looked at Luke and he continued talking, "We know that lately, and well always, your parents haven't exactly been there for you. Lorelai and I talked and decided that it was stupid and you needed parents who would actually be there for you."

Lorelai continued for him, "So if you'll have us, Luke and I would like to become your unofficial parents."

I gave a big hug to both of them, "Really? I would love that! But what is all this for?"

"This," Lorelai said as she motioned around the room, "Is your unofficial adoption ceremony and reception."

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Yep! And if you come right over here to the counter, you will find the unofficial papers."

We walked over to the counter where the papers were, and Rory joined us to "officiate" the ceremony. Rory handed Luke and Lorelai a pen and told them to sign. After they had both signed the paper Rory began to speak, "By signing this paper Luke and Lorelai Danes agree to care for and love Grace as if she was their own daughter."

She then handed me the pen, and I signed the paper, "By signing this paper Grace agrees to care for and love Luke and Lorelai as if they were her own parents and she must allow them to fully spoil Elle and any other children she may have as if they were their own grandchildren."

Lorelai motioned for Rory to join her, "There's one more thing we want to add," She handed Rory the pen, "We want Rory to be apart of this too. So Rory, by signing this paper you agree to be a big sister to Grace and torture her just like a big sister would."

Everyone laughed and Rory signed the paper. "I now pronounce us a family!" Rory said. We shared a group hug before Luke went and started serving the food.

I walked over to Ty and Alyssa and they gave me a big hug, "You deserve great parents Gracie." Ty said.

"Thanks Ty," I told him, "And don't worry, you two are definitely still part of my family. I'm not just tossing you out for my new sibling."

They both laughed, "We know Grace." Alyssa said.

Rory walked over carrying Elle and started talking with us. A moment later Lorelai came over and put her arm around Rory and I, "Look at my cute little daughters, and my even cuter granddaughter."

She took Elle from Rory's arms, "Now what are you going to call me little girl? Not Grandma, that's for sure, we need something more fun."

"How about she calls you Nana and Luke Papa?" I suggested.

Lorelai made a face and looked at Elle, "It's ok, but I think we can do better. What do you think Ellie?" Lorelai held Elle up to her face, as if Elle was whispering something to her, "Oh, that's a great idea! You are such a smart little girl. How about a twist on Nana and Papa, she can call me Noni, and Luke can be Papi."

I laughed, "Where did those names come from?"

Lorelai looked at me seriously, "Didn't you just see Elle and I talking about it?

"Sorry, my mistake," I took Elle from Lorelai, "Elle, don't mind her that's just your crazy Noni, she's harmless though and lots of fun."

We walked over to where Luke was, "And this is your Papi, he may seem grumpy sometimes but he does love you. I hope you take after Mommy and don't like coffee, because he won't let you have any."

Luke rolled his eyes; we spent the rest of the night hanging out as one big happy family. As cheesy as it sounds, it was true, and I had never been happier.

A/N: Sorry for the delay! I meant to have this up sooner, but my internet went down. The next (and final) chapter will be up soon! Please review and let me know what you think!


	18. The Wedding

I woke up slowly, trying to place what was happening. I tried to sit up only to find that Rory's head was on my stomach, and another Sookie's legs were on mine. I was lying with my pillow propped up against Lorelai's butt, not the best way to start the morning. Somehow Lorelai, Rory, Sookie and I were all sleeping on my double bed. Lane and Alyssa must have been smart and taken the couch. I slowly managed to get out of the mess of people on my bed; last night was quite a party.

Today was my wedding day, and I was surprised I hadn't woken up sooner. It might have had something to do with the fact that Lorelai kept everyone awake into the wee hours of the morning. We had my bachelorette party last night, except we had it without the drinking since I wasn't able to.

I heard Elle making quiet noises in the next room; I walked in to see her lying in her crib quietly chewing on her hands. She was 5 months old and still as cute as ever. I picked her up, "Hey Ellie, did you sleep good last night? Noni didn't keep you up did she? I know she was being very noisy last night."

Elle cooed and giggled as I talked to her and got her dressed. Once I was done I went into the kitchen to get her a bottle and I heard a knock at the door. I opened it and was swallowed in a hug, I laughed, "Hey Stella! Good to see you!"

Stella was Jake's mom, I had met her a few times during the summer I spent in New York, and she had been a regular visitor ever since Elle was born. She quickly became one of my favorite people, and although Lorelai was a little jealous at first, even she liked her now. Stella was just hard not to like.

We stepped back from our hug and she immediately reached for Elle, "Hello Princess! Look at how pretty you are!"

Elle laughed and Stella continued talking to her. I invited Stella inside and let her give Elle her bottle while I tried to wake up the partiers. I quickly realized it was not going to be possible without a lot of coffee, I ran downstairs and grabbed a few cups. They still weren't moving, so I moved on to my next idea. I got Elle from Stella and laid her on top of Lorelai, "Okay Ellie, I need you to wake up your Noni."

Elle laughed and started to smack her hands on Lorelai, but it wasn't until she starting drooling all over her that Lorelai actually woke up.

"Grace, you're mean!" She growled at me.

"I'm not mean, just smart, if I tried to wake you I could get seriously hurt but I knew you would never hurt Elle. Now come on, you have to get up and help me get ready!"

She mumbled something and got up and went into the bathroom. With all of Lorelai's noise everyone else had finally started getting up. Slowly everyone started getting showered and ready. Once Lorelai came out of the bathroom I handed her a cup of coffee, but she declined it. I looked around the room, was I the only one who saw that?

"You are refusing coffee? I don't think that has ever happened before."

"I just don't want it this morning, it smells gross." She said, trying to explain her actions.

"It's Luke's coffee, the same thing you always drink."

She ignored that and continued getting ready. At around 1:00 after we all had eaten, we headed to the Dragonfly where the wedding was being held.

…

I sat surrounded by possibly every woman in the Dragonfly, maybe not quite, but it sure felt like it! Everyone was crowded around trying to finish my hair and makeup. My nephew Jimmy and niece Carrie were running around the room, while Ty sat with Elle. The men had finished getting ready a long time ago and most of them were hanging out somewhere in the Dragonfly with Jake. Ty and Alyssa's husband Matthew had come to help control the chaos.

The wedding was in 2 hours and time seemed to be dragging by. Finally they finished and I was shooed off to get my dress on. Lorelai had made my dress, and it of course, was gorgeous. It was floor length with thin straps, embroidered trim, wrap waist, and a lace up back. It fit perfectly, and once I had it mostly on I called Lorelai in to help get me laced up.

When I was all ready and about to walk out the door Lorelai stopped me, "Grace wait." I stopped and turned to face her, she had tears in her eyes, "You look gorgeous. And I'm so, so happy for you." She gave me a hug, "Now let's go make some people's jaws drop!"

I gave her a look and walked back out into the main room. Everyone stopped and looked at me, "I told you so!" Lorelai told me as she walked by.

I was surrounded with hugs and everyone told me I looked great.

While I was getting dressed everyone else had gotten the kids ready; we waited until the last minute just in case of an accident. We went outside to where the ceremony was to be held everyone in the wedding party except for Jake was there. We took all the pictures we could without him, then I went back inside while they did the same with Jake.

About a half an hour later everyone came back in and said that the guests were starting to arrive. I was walking around the room, practically bouncing. I was too excited to sit!

Lorelai motioned for me to sit down, "Grace come sit, you're going to wear a hole through the floor!"

I went and sat down besides her, as I did I noticed she was looking a little funny, "Lorelai are you ok?" I asked her.

"Yeah I'm fine, I'm just a little queasy and hungry. I probably didn't eat enough at lunch."

Stella came and sat besides me, leaning in towards my ear she whispered, "If you ask me, I think she's pregnant."

I whipped my head around to look at Lorelai. Was she pregnant? It made sense when I thought about it, not wanting coffee, being queasy, and come to think of it that had been happening a lot lately. She had also been very tired lately, Luke had mentioned she was going to bed as early as he did.

She must have noticed me staring at her because she gave me an odd look, "Can I help you with something?" She asked.

I was about to say something when Jake's brother Jay came to get Stella and announced they were starting. Everyone headed out to the spot where we had to wait until it was time to walk down the aisle.

Our wedding party was set up a lot like Luke and Lorelai's was. Lorelai was my matron of honor and was walking down the aisle first with Elle and Carrie, the flower girls and Jimmy the ring bearer. Jake's best man, his brother Jay, was already standing up with Jake.

Next in line were Ty and Alyssa, and behind them were Rory and Jake's friend Peter. Finally, in the very back Luke and I stood. I already had my arm linked through his as we waited. I was again bouncing up and down, Luke noticed this and laughed, "Are you excited?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer.

I smiled at him, "Very. I just can't wait to finally be married! It seems like we've been waiting for forever."

We watched as Lorelai and the kids started down the aisle, "I'm happy for you guys. And I couldn't think of a better person for my daughter to marry." We both smiled as he said daughter.

Slowly everyone made their way down the aisle, "Who was the one who decided weddings should be so slow? I think they should move a lot faster. Unless of course they want the bride to die of boredom before she even gets near the aisle." I said as we started walking.

The ceremony went beyond perfect, it was amazing. We walked down the aisle and it was one of the happiest moments of my life. When we got back to the waiting area Jake picked me up and twirled me around in a big hug, "Finally!" He whispered in my ear. We were lost in our own world for a moment, until we were called back for the rest of the pictures.

We walked over, hand-in-hand to where everyone else was gathered. Jake grabbed Elle from his mom and brought her over to me, "Hey Ellie-bug, your parents are finally married. What do you think about that?"

"I think she's glad that her daddy is always going to be over to get up with her in the middle of the night." I said.

We took several more pictures, then headed to the reception. Jake, Elle, and I made the rounds and tried to talk to everyone. There were so many people there! After talking to almost everyone I spotted Rory and Marty and after handing Elle to Jake I went over.

Rory and Marty were getting pretty serious, and everyone was glad about it. I talked to them for a moment before I noticed that Rory was watching her mom, "Does something seem weird with mom?" She asked.

"Yes!" I exclaimed, and pulled her over to the side, "Stella thinks she's pregnant."

Rory, didn't seemed shocked, "That's what I was wondering. Do you think she is? You have a little more experience with that than I do."

"I don't know, it's possible. We should just go ask her." I said.

We walked over to Lorelai and she gave me another big hug, "Hey hon, congratulations again!"

I smiled, "Thanks Lorelai. Can we talk to you for a minute?"

She had a questioning look on her face, "Sure, what's up?"

Rory started talking first, "Mom this may seem crazy, but we've all noticed you are acting a little weird today."

Rory looked at me to continue and I did, "And maybe we are totally off, but are you pregnant?"

Lorelai stood there looking at us for a moment, "I-I don't know. Maybe, I wasn't sure but I was waiting to find out."

Rory and I both started squealing, "Really!" I said.

"We have to find out!" Rory added.

"Are you sure, I don't want to take away from your big day Grace." Lorelai said.

"Trust me, this would be a great wedding gift, just think of it that way." I told her.

"Ok, but how? We can't exactly leave and go buy one, and even if we could everyone would know."

I thought for a moment then saw Stella out of the corner of my eye, "I got it!" I called Stella over.

"Stella can get it, she can leave for a moment and no one will notice, and no one knows her. Plus even if she did get recognized, everyone would probably think it was for me, and we might as well let them work for their gossip." I explained to them.

After explaining the situation to Stella she told us, "She knew it," and agreed to get the test.

We continued mingling around the party, anxiously waiting for Stella to return. When she did, we all ran off to the bathroom. Rory, Lorelai and I were sitting in the bathroom, waiting for the timer to run out. Stella had gone back to cover for us, she figured that someone would notice the bride, matron of honor, and bridesmaid were missing.

Finally it was time to look. "I can't look!" Lorelai told us, "You guys do it!"

Rory and I both moved over to look, after a moment of shock we turned back to her.

"Mom, it's positive!" Rory yelled.

"You're pregnant!" I added excitedly.

We began jumping around and squealing when someone walked in and gave us an odd look, we quickly collected our stuff and left the bathroom.

We saw Luke walking towards us, "Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you."

Lorelai turned to Rory and I, "You guys go ahead, we'll be there in a minute."

We hurried off; both giggling and trying to hold in our excitement, knowing the Lorelai was going to tell Luke.

…

Nobody's POV

Lorelai led Luke to her office so they could talk. "Lorelai, what's going on?" Luke asked.

Lorelai picked up a framed picture that was sitting on her desk, it was the picture of Lorelai, Luke, and Elle shortly after Elle was born. "Luke, do you remember when we first saw this picture and we talked about how we hoped it would soon be us?"

Luke nodded his head and Lorelai continued, "Luke that will soon be us!" She said.

Luke seemed confused for a moment before a look of understanding and happiness passed over his face, "You're pregnant?" He asked.

"Yes! We're having a baby!"

Luke quickly pulled Lorelai into a tight hug and kissed her, "This is amazing! Wow, we are going to be parents!"

Lorelai hadn't stopped smiling since she told him, "So you're happy?"

"So happy."

…

Back at the reception

Grace's POV

Luke and Lorelai came back out and Rory and I ran over to them. They both had huge smiles on their faces; we gave them both a big hug and whispered congratulations. They didn't want to say anything yet, so we tried to keep it quiet.

The night continued on, there wasn't much planned, we had just wanted a big party where we could celebrate and hang out with our friends.

At around 11 Jake and I found his dad, Jerry, sitting and holding Elle who had been asleep for hours. I gently took Elle from Jerry so I could say my good-byes, Jerry and Stella were watching Elle tonight while Luke and Lorelai watched her the rest of the time we were gone. Jake and I were driving halfway to the cabin tonight.

Jake and I took Elle away from the group and sat down on a bench together, Elle was still sleeping peacefully in my arms. "Hey baby girl, I love you. Mommy's going to miss you so much while she's gone, be good for your grandparents." I whispered to her.

I handed her to Jake and he gave her his own message. We walked back to Jerry and Stella, we both had tears in our eyes. Stella pulled me into a hug, "She'll be fine, and you'll be back before you know it."

After we had said our good-byes we walked back to the main group. There was still a small group of people left when we announced we were leaving. We gave our hugs and said our good-byes; it was the perfect ending to the perfect day. The perfect start to a new life.

A/N: The end! That was the final chapter, I hope everyone enjoyed the story! I want to thank everyone for reading the story! A special thank you goes out everyone who reviewed it, I really appreciated it and loved every review! And finally I want to give another thank you to Sarah who betaed the story for me! There should be a sequel starting soon, I'm still working on getting all my ideas together, so if you have any please e-mail me at I would love to hear them! Thanks again to everyone!


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